The Four Faces of Rath MM, ML, AI, Others
by Island Breezes
Summary: Michael takes a trip to the past to 'find himself,' and he winds up stuck in the past with Rath and Zan. To get back, he finds he has to get Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel, & the others back together again. Sci-Fi, drama, adventure, humor, and angst
1. Default Chapter

"The Four Faces of Rath" Rated PG  
  
Sequel to: "Children of the Universe"  
"The Four Faces of Rath" is the fourth book of the "Altered Time" series. It can be read and enjoyed as a separate story from the others, but to fully understand all the characters and how they got there, it is recommended you read the first three stories first. For those of you who choose to read this one first anyway (and those who read the first three but would like to refresh your memories), here is a brief summary to bring you up to this point quickly while hopefully not spoiling any of the secrets or excitement of the first two.  
  
In "Altered Time-Destiny in the Stars," Max and Michael are living on Antar. Kivar destroyed the earth several years before, and Liz, Maria, Isabel, and all the others are gone. This, of course, just won't do, and Max and Michael set out in the "New Granolith" on a mission to change the past. They wind up with a lot more adventure than they expected, and Max and Michael are "seeing double" as they meet and deal with their younger selves. Some of their friends wind up living on Antar, and the CrashDown is rebuilt on Antar. A couple of new characters from Antar become regulars, marrying into the group. Oh yeah, look for Alex, too! He saves the world! Then there is the awesome jah-ee! Ah, well, read the story for that!  
  
In the second story, "Life in the Stars," a long-held bombshell secret concerning Tess and Liz is uncovered. Then Max and group return to earth to show their kids, who range from 5 to 9 years old now and have their own unique "abilities," where they grew up. On earth, they recruit a number of helpers to help protect the kids. These helpers are people who have trace amounts of Antarian DNA inherited from Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa, three Antarian girls who visited earth 12,000 years before with their parents and got into a lot of trouble. The podsquad and their families and helpers, who come to be referred to as "Antarians Too," encounter an old enemy in a former alien task force agent, Dumas Zwolinski, who holds a very big grudge, and the children's lives are seriously endangered. There is some angst, (okay, a lot of angst! But my stories never end sadly! And there is also a lot of fun!) Diane Casey and Dan Klein become characters in "Life in the Stars." They were agents who joined the podsters and friends.  
  
The third story, "Children of the Universe," begins 10-11 years after "Life in the Stars," and Max and friends are sad, depressed, and full of angst since a disaster of Antar-wide proportions 9 years before destroyed their lives, but don't expect things to stay that way. Remember that "the darkest hour is right before the dawn." There is lots of action, drama, adventure, humor, romance, and sci-fi here for all our friends, just as in the first two stories. And besides, have I ever let you down?  
  
That brings us to the fourth story in the series, "The Four Faces of Rath." Read on! I think you'll like it. Feedback is always appreciated and often begged for! ( Please! Please! Please! Okay, that's enough begging. Let me know if you enjoy the story!  
  
Melinda Metz and the creators of Roswell, the TV series, deserve the credit for the characters from the TV show and for whatever mention, if any, there might be of any event that occurred on the TV show. All other characters and storylines are mine. 


	2. Rath01

**The Four Faces of Rath**

**"A Wing and a Prayer"**

**Chapter 1**

**I******

**The trees skimmed by beneath her wings like a patchwork of green as she topped the peak of the forested mountain and faced into the east wind. The breeze felt good against her face. It was so peaceful here… so calm… so beautiful. All the cares of the world were behind her somewhere far below. Liz smiled and spread her wings wide to capture the wind below them. She felt the lift… taking her upward, upward… with no effort at all. Then she rolled slightly to the right and dove back toward the valley, following the contour of the mountains below her. Buoyed by the wind under her wings, Liz glided out over the flowing waters of a large river and turned upstream, dipping down to skim just above the water. She could feel the cool mist in her face, on her body, over her wings, as the swift waters rushed by beneath her… so nice on this hot summer day. She dipped the fingertips of one hand into the river, creating eddies in the rushing waters.**

**Liz was so absorbed in the serene beauty of the landscape and the feel of the cool mist in her face that she hadn't noticed she had company now. She looked up suddenly, as a hand reached out and touched hers. She smiled. It was Max. Max smiled back then released her hand, gliding upward toward the sky. Liz followed. She took his hand again, as they both spread their wings wide, capturing the lift of the high east winds. **

**Liz looked at Max, and she smiled again. He did look so like an angel to her with his ample white wings spread wide, feathers flexing subtly like small ailerons controlling his graceful flight. She took both of Max's hands and rolled over, allowing him to hold her in his arms, supporting them both with his strong wings. Max looked into Liz's eyes, and slowly, inexorably, their lips drew together. The east wind rippled under Max's wings, lifting them ever higher and higher.**

**Suddenly, a noise jarred Liz out of her bliss. She opened her eyes quickly and looked around the room. Then she looked at the small alarm clock dancing next to the bed.**

**Liz looked at Max. He was still sound asleep… with a smile on his face. She shook her head.**

**"How can he sleep through that racket?" Liz leaned over and kissed Max then got up and showered and wrapped herself in a bathrobe. **

**Twenty minutes later, Max walked into the kitchen, yawning, his bathrobe wrapped around him. He kissed Liz, who was making breakfast for him, Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and herself. She smiled and kissed him back.**

**"I didn't hear the alarm go off."**

**"Well, it did," Liz replied simply, as she stirred some golden eggs in a pan.**

**"Oh. Where's the alarm clock?"**

**Liz smiled. "Outside."**

**Max looked momentarily confused then enlightened. "Oh! I wondered why the window was open. It's three stories… down… from our bedroom. Do you think we can hear it down there," Max asked, grinning.**

**Liz put her arms around Max and kissed him. "I certainly hope not!" She looked into Max's eyes. "…I had that dream again, Max."**

**"The one where we were flying?"**

**"Yeah."**

**Max looked at her strangely.**

**"What?"**

**"I had the same dream. But it didn't seem like a dream. It seemed almost…"**

**"I know! Real," Liz answered for him, nodding… "For me, too… much more real than a dream. But it was a dream… wasn't it?"**

**Max nodded.**

**"You were still sleeping when I woke up, Max. …How far did you get in your dream?" **

**Max smiled. Liz hit him playfully on the arm. "Darned alarm clock! I hope it's broken permanently!"**


	3. Rath02

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"What's So Great About Normal Anyway?"**

**Chapter 2**

**II**

**Liz placed an Aluzian golden egg omelet on Maya's plate and another on JoLeesa's. Then she quickly scrambled some more for Andya and Alyyx, who were less fond of omelets than the other two. Max liked his "omelet" fixed like a taco, with shebble meat and Tabasco sauce mixed in and all rolled up together in a sort of pita-style Ama leaf. It was a specialty that Liz had "invented" just for him. With it, he usually had a cup of coffee with two tablespoons of Tabasco and one of sugar.**

**With everyone else taken care of, Liz quickly scrambled up a couple of Antarian blue-hen eggs, which she preferred, and took a small pashita loaf, lightly toasted, out of the oven for herself. Then she sat down to join the family, and everyone dug in. As they began to eat, Kyle walked in. **

**Kyle was the palace chief of staff. It was the job he had chosen for himself years before when he had first come to Antar. He had long since married an Antarian girl, Jeliya, who seemed to worship the ground he walked on, something that was not lost on Kyle, who adored Jeliya and treated her as though she were a princess herself. Kyle and Jeliya had a home of their own; but as chief of staff, Kyle also had a permanent room in the palace, and often he and Jeliya slept over in the palace. To Jeliya, sleeping in the palace was the stuff of fairy tales. As a child, she had often seen the palace from afar, but before meeting Kyle, she had never been inside it, and she had certainly never dreamed that she would ever sleep there or know the king and the queen personally. Life was strange that way. Kyle and Jeliya had two children, Kyle Rayyn Valenti, called "Rayyn," and Noel Trasves Valenti, called "Taz." Rayyn and Taz were very good friends with Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx, and when Kyle and Jeliya slept over, naturally, Rayyn and Taz did, too. Rayyn was now eight years old. Taz was seven, the same age as Alyyx. The triplets, Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa, were nine. **

**"Max… Liz… Sorry to bother you during breakfast, but I thought you'd like to know that you have company."**

**"Who is it," Liz asked, putting down her pashita bread and blotting some small crumbs off her mouth with a napkin.**

**Kyle turned around and gestured. Maria walked in with Michael right behind her. Liz smiled and hugged Maria.**

**Max waved a "Welcome" sort of wave and smiled. Michael grinned. "Max and I can skip the hugs, huh, Max?"**

**"Only if you want to live, Michael," Max mumbled, munching down on his "taco." **

**"Sit down, guys! Join us!"**

**"Well…" Michael looked at Max's golden egg-shebble-Tabasco breakfast taco. "That does look good."**

**"Sit down," Liz said, pointing to a couple of chairs. "I'll fix you one. How about you, Maria?"**

**"Oh, no. I already had breakfast. I'm stuffed. A cup of coffee would be good, though."**

**"You got it." **

**"I'll help you," Maria said, jumping back up and following Liz into the kitchen. The truth is, Liz would not have had to cook at all. There was palace staff for that… as for everything else. But Liz wanted a "normal" life… well, as normal as possible for a Roswell girl living on an alien planet and married to an alien king, with children who had unusual "abilities." Oh well, what was so great about normal anyway, she reminded herself. But she still preferred to cook for her family and at least feel normal… except on certain special occasions when she just felt like "letting go" and being different. **

**Maria held a plate as Liz placed a couple of her special breakfast "tacos" on it. Then Maria took it to Michael. Liz poured Michael and Maria a cup of coffee then poured another cup for Max and herself.**

**Max pushed the Tabasco sauce over to Michael, who proceeded to pour Tabasco into his coffee until it reached the rim and would hold no more. Maria and Liz watched as he tasted it.**

**"Delicious! Great coffee, Liz!"**

**"Thanks, Michael," Liz said, grinning. "I'm glad you can taste it."**

**"Oh… that… The Tabasco just adds flavor," Michael replied. "It's like sugar and cream, you know? It just makes it good."**

**"Okay. I'm glad you like it."**

**"Yeah. It's great! This taco, too."**

**Maria grinned. "I'll get Liz to give me the recipe."**

**"Shebble, Aluzian eggs, and Tabasco in equal portions. Wrap it all in a baked and toasted Ama leaf," Liz whispered to Maria, who nodded and smiled.**

**"So, Michael… What brings you guys here this morning so early," Max asked, finishing the last bite of his taco.**

**"Oh, that, yeah! Well, it's weird, Max. We would have waited, but this seemed somehow important. I thought we should get together and see if maybe something… I don't know… unusual is going on."**

**Liz giggled. "Unusual? What could be unusual, Michael? We're seven galaxies from earth, living in a palace on another planet, we've faced Ghors and a universe of alien beings, including those little gas puffs, the Orstosians, some twenty foot high, rubbery beings that look like giant chewing gum sticks, called Yargishi, and the Dragons of Drago… one of whom, I remind you, thinks you're his Daddy! What's not normal?"**

**Michael reddened slightly. "Kiraugo was only two years old. He was impressionable… and scared. It was a scary situation he was in. I saved him. He just…"**

**"…thinks you're his Daddy," Liz finished for him.**

**"Not his Daddy. He has a Daddy… and a Mama. I guess I'm like a godfather."**

**Liz and Maria both smiled. "It's okay, Michael. We're all proud of you," Liz said. "You saved all those kids' lives. They all owe you. We all do! Because of you, Antar has a galaxy of new allies and friends."**

**"Ahem."**

**"Yeah, you, too, Max," Maria added. "And Kyle and Dan and Varec and all the others… Oh, and don't forget Jim… and especially Kathleen!"**

**"And the pawgor," Alyyx said, joining in the conversation.**

**Everyone laughed. "Yeah! And the pawgor," Liz said. "So Michael, tell us what is unusual."**

**"Flying," Michael said.**

**Liz and Max both looked suddenly interested.**

**"Flying?"**

**"Well… it's a dream Maria and I had… I think it was a dream. The unusual thing is that we both had the same dream… and not just once. We've had it several times… both of us. I don't guess you'd understand."**

**"We had it, too," Liz said. "Max and I were flying…"**

**"Over some mountains…" Michael added.**

**"Then along a river somewhere," Maria said.**

**"A large, swift flowing river with little islands in it and azury waters…" Liz said.**

**Maria and Michael nodded.**

**"Max… what is going on here," Michael asked. "We wake up feeling like we were there, not like it was a dream. We remember everything so vividly."**

**"Same here," Max said. "We wondered about it, but… what could it be but a dream?"**

**"Not a dream, Max. I don't think so. No! I know so! Not a dream."**

**"How can you be so sure, Michael," Max asked.**

**"I remember things, Max. It's like… a repressed memory. I don't know."**

**"You know, Michael, that's not the only dream Max has had," Liz said.**

**"Liz… Don't," Max shook his head.**

**"Well, he should know, Max. I know it's not him in your dream, but…"**

**Michael looked ill, as though he were about to be sentenced for a crime that he regretted with all his soul and couldn't live with.**

**"Are you alright," Maria asked.**

**Michael shook his head.**

**tbc**


	4. Rath03

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"Of Dreams and Memories"**

**Chapter 3**

**III**

**Liz looked at Michael then at Max. Max shook his head. Liz sighed.**

**"It was nothing, Michael. Just some silly dream Max told me about. Don't worry about it."**

**Michael seemed to relax. But as he looked at Max, he wondered silently… What does he know? Michael could never be sure. He hoped… he had always hoped… that some dreams he had had were only dreams and not latent repressed memories. It was never simple for Michael to know for sure. Unlike most any other person, Michael had a past. So did Max, Isabel, and, for that matter, Tess. They had whole lives that even now they did not completely remember. The alien scientists who mixed Rath, Zan, Vilandra, and Ava's DNA with human DNA and "created" the beings known as Michael, Max, Isabel, and Tess also programmed certain memories to be revived in them at various critical stages of their lives. It was all so… planned. But few things ever work exactly as planned the first time. Some things never do. Michael knew. For him, a simple dream might be a latent memory of their past lives… or… just another nightmare. There were things Michael never talked about.**

**Maria patted Michael on the arm. "Well, Dear, I guess we'd better get back over to Amy and Varec's and pick up the kids before they turn her into a frog or something," she said, joking.**

**Michael smiled. He always smiled. It was what was inside that hurt.**

**"Yeah, you're right," Michael agreed. "I remember the last time."**

**Maria giggled. **

**"What happened last time," Liz asked.**

**Amy was reading them stories from Songs of the South. You know, Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox…"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Well, Jayyd changed Amy into Uncle Remus… or a female version of him."**

**Liz put her hand over her mouth and laughed.**

**"But Amy was cool with it. She always is. She just plays the part. She knows the kids'll change her back anyway."**

**"They really are good kids," Liz said.**

**Maria nodded. "I know. Jayyd has a kind heart. She wouldn't hurt a fly."**

**Liz closed her eyes, remembering the past… "Even back on earth when Zwolinski shot Jayyd… and Max couldn't revive her…" Liz's voice broke, and tears came into her eyes as she recalled then-5-year-old Jayyd's lifeless body cut almost in half by a merciless and brutal Agent Zwolinski and his supervisor's automatic weapons in the Smoky Mountains less than two years before… **

**Maria nodded. "Michael was going to kill him… all of them! He would've, too! But after Kryys saved Jayyd, Jayyd asked Michael to let her turn Zwolinski green with red eyes and hair and his boss, Sikorski, purple with pink polka dots so they would know what it was like to be different… She wouldn't let Michael kill them." **

**Liz wiped a lingering tear from the corner of her eye. "I'm afraid I wouldn't have been as charitable."**

**Maria smiled. "Well, it was the end of Zwolinski and Sikorski, anyway, effectively. Their own "alien hunters" carted them off protesting that they weren't aliens. I wonder what ever happened to them?"**

**"I don't care," Liz replied, "just as long as it was permanent."**

**"Amen to that," Maria agreed.**

**Max reached out and shook Michael's hand. "I'll see you later today, Michael. We need to go over some of the new treaties with several of the newly allied planets."**

**"Yeah, I'll see you at the command center," Michael said. Liz hugged Maria again, and the two of them left.**

**"Nice car," Max commented. "Looks new."**

**"It's a Fan-Ji 4," Liz said. "Maria and I went to Kyyk's Department Store yesterday together. It's nice… four engines. It has variable hovering altitudes… it can hover as low as 2 inches from the road or as high as ten feet."**

**"Ten feet! That's not hovering! That's flying," Max laughed. "I didn't realize the Fan-Ji 4 was out yet."**

**"You know, Max… in spite of any dreams… we both know that Michael is… Michael always has been… like a brother to you… even more than a brother. He's completely dedicated to you, to the kingdom, and to Antar… and for that matter, to all of his friends. He would never do anything to damage that trust."**

**"I know, Liz." Max nodded. "That's why some of these dreams are so perplexing. But you're right. I trust Michael with my life… with all our lives. He's never given me any reason to doubt him. And I don't."**

**Liz smiled. "That's good."**

**                                          ----------**

**Zan lay at Rath's feet… dead… stabbed in the back by a dagger that had pierced his heart. Nearby was Rath's beloved Vilandra… and near her Ava. Not far from Vilandra and Ava lay Zan's mother and father. All had been stabbed to death. There was blood everywhere. Rath looked at his hands. They were covered with blood. In his hand was a fourteen-inch Vorkian dagger… it, too, covered with blood. Rath opened his shaking hand, letting the bloody dagger fall to the ground. He looked up and an agonized, chilling, primordial scream filled the palace gardens and the dark, moonless night. Rath ran from the gardens, blindly racing over the darkened paths of the palace grounds. As he rounded a corner, several guards blocked him. One was holding a light. Rath struck out, killing three of the seven guards with his bare hands before he was restrained. Then he noticed the one leading them…**

**"You!"**

**"Yes, me!"**

**As the four remaining guards held Rath, the leader grabbed Rath's hair and lifted his face to look at it. Then he shook his head.**

**"Low primitive forehead. Moronic, idiotic, brainless look. It's Rath. Kill him."**

**Rath spun around, throwing the guards off. He struck out with a hidden reserve dagger in one hand, killing one of the guards, as he strangled another with the other hand. Before the leader could call for his backup, Rath had killed all four of the guards.**

**"It's just you and me now, Nyykto. You're dead."**

**Nyykto looked at Rath, and fear filled his eyes. He was no match for Rath, and he knew it.**

**"Like you killed Zan, Rath? Like you killed your own king?"  
  
"No!"**

**"Yes! You did! And Vilandra and Ava!"**

**"No!"**

**"You killed them all, Rath! You! Look at your hands. They're covered with the blood of the ones you were sworn to defend!"**

**Rath shook his head. He looked at his blood-soaked hands, and his lips drew back in agony. He started to scream again. It was all he could do now. Then he felt a blade enter his chest, piercing his heart. Rath looked at Nyykto. He had allowed himself to be distracted. It had only been for a moment, but that was all it took. It was too late now. Rath collapsed slowly to his knees. Then he fell face down on the path.**

**"Pathetic," Nyykto scowled, kicking Rath's almost lifeless body as he turned to look at his former guards… seven of them… all so easily slain by Rath.**

**"Pathetic," Nyykto said again, kicking two of the guards' bodies out of his way. "But Kivar should be happy." **

**Rath lay on the path, his lifeblood flowing out into the soil, as the night went black.**

**"Michael! Michael! Wake up! It's just a nightmare!"**

**Maria was shaking him. Michael opened his eyes. His face was covered with sweat.**

**"It's alright, Michael," Maria said soothingly. Maria was on her knees on the bed, holding Michael's head in her arms. She laid her head next to his. Michael felt Maria's hair on his face. Something about the feel of Maria's hair against his face was always soothing to him. He put one hand behind her head and felt the softness of her hair. Then he pulled her close…**

**"I killed them, Maria. I killed Zan and all the others."**

**Maria shook her head. "It was just a dream, Michael! A dream! Forget it."**

**"I killed them."**

**"You couldn't kill them, Michael."**

**"Rath did."**

**Maria shook her head. "No, Michael. I don't believe it. There has to be an explanation." **

**Michael shook his head. "Why am I having these dreams now? Why are they so real? They're not like dreams. They're more real."**

**"I don't know, Michael. Maybe we should discuss it with Max."**

**"No… **

**Maybe… I don't know." **

**Michael pulled Maria close again. He nestled his face next to hers, allowing her hair to fall over him. He felt somehow secure next to her… not just physically -physically, he was more than a match for any common enemy- but emotionally. Soon, he was asleep. **

**tbc**


	5. Rath04

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"Will the Real Rath…"**

**Chapter 4**

**IV**

**"Max, if you ever had this dream, too, I want to know. I… need to know."**

**Michael sat on the sofa in the palace social area with Maria at his side. Max and Liz sat together in an oversized Antarian "great chair" across from them. Liz looked at Max to see what he would say. Max looked down momentarily then looked into Michael's eyes. Michael wasn't sure if Max was just gathering his thoughts or if he was searching for something… perhaps for the real Michael, the real Rath. "Ironic," he thought. Michael wasn't sure himself who the real Michael was… or who the real Rath was. For a long time since coming to Antar, he thought he knew, but now… now with these new dreams… he wasn't sure anymore.**

**"I've had dreams, too… or something," Max confessed. "I had one again last night, and it went further than any had before."**

**Michael squirmed uneasily. Maria rubbed one hand soothingly over his arm and held his other hand in hers. Michael swallowed hard.**

**"I knew it. I did it, didn't I?"**

**"Depends on what you think you did, I guess," Max said matter-of-factly.**

**"I killed you… killed Zan. I killed Vilandra, Ava… everyone I loved."**

**Liz looked at Max. "Tell him, Max. Tell him what you know. You have to."**

**Max nodded.**

**"Michael, I don't know how to tell you except to let you see it."**

**Michael shook his head. "No! No, Max… I can't! Not… I can't. I've seen enough already."**

**"You should," Liz said. "It may answer some of your questions."**

**"Have you ever done this before, Max," Michael asked.**

**"No. But there always has to be a first time."**

**Maria looked at Max then at Liz. "How does this work? You're not going to do anything that might…"**

**"No, Maria," Liz said. "It's kind of like when Max and I kiss. I used to see stars and things." She smiled and glanced at Max. "I still do. And he can make me see things about him… his feelings… his life."**

**"I'm not kissing you, Max. I already killed you once. Don't invite trouble."**

**Max smiled. "At least you've still got your sense of humor, Michael."**

**"Who's joking?"**

**Maria and Liz both giggled in spite of themselves. It was a serious situation, but they knew Michael. It was Michael who didn't know."**

**"Don't worry, Michael. You don't have to… you know… kiss."**

**"Okay then," Michael agreed cautiously. "Alright. How's it done?"**

**"Touch my hand."**

**"That's all?"**

**"That's all."**

**Michael reached out and touched Max's hand. He saw a flash, and without meaning to, he drew his hand back quickly.**

**"Are you ready for this, Michael," Max asked.**

**Michael nodded and placed his hand back on the coffee table on top of Max's again.**

**A battle seemed to be raging around the palace. Zan was in the throne room. Ava, Vilandra, and the former regents, his mother and father, were also there.**

**"It won't be long, Zan," the elder regent, his father, said. "They're coming. We should find a safer place than the throne room. They'll come here first."**

**Vilandra looked at Zan. "We can go through the gardens. We can escape through the gardens."**

**"I don't think that would be safe," Ava said, shaking her head. "I think there are disloyal guards there… Kivar's guards."**

**"Not in the gardens," Vilandra said. "I… I know."**

**Zan looked at Vilandra. In his heart, he trusted her. At that moment, the doors to the throne room burst open, and guards burst in. Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in the mob. It was Rath, carrying a Vorkian dagger, throwing himself over the top of the others to be in the front. Zan used the momentary distraction to get himself and the others into a closet then through a secret door in the back of the closet. From there, they escaped into the tunnels beneath the palace, and Vilandra led them toward the gardens.**

**Michael drew his hand back. "I don't want to see any more, Max. I'm a traitor. How can you even look at me? How can you stand to let me touch you?"**

**Max didn't answer. He reached out and took Michael's hand, placing it back on the table, then he placed his own hand firmly on top of it.**

**Zan emerged from the tunnels behind Vilandra. He reached back to assist Ava and his mother and father. Then they ran through the gardens toward the place that Vilandra indicated. Suddenly, another individual stood in their path.**

**"Kivar!" Zan said, recognizing his enemy even in the dark of a moonless night.**

**"It's alright," Vilandra said. "He's here to help us."**

**Zan looked at Vilandra then again at Kivar… and he knew.**

**"Vilandra, you've been deceived. Kivar is here only for one reason… to kill us."**

**"No, Zan! Trust him! He has sworn to me, and I have done something terrible to save you all."**

**Vilandra lowered her head, and tears rolled down her face.**

**"I've agreed to be Kivar's wife."**

**"And Rath?"**

**"I love Rath… but… this had to be."**

**"What does it matter," the elder regent, Zan's father, said. "Rath is a traitor. He was at the front of that mob anxious to get at us. And now we know that Vilandra is a traitor, too. Neither of them is worthy of our pity."**

**"No!" Vilandra shouted. "I did what I had to do. It was for you! And Rath did not betray you."**

**"Explain what you mean," Zan commanded Vilandra.**

**Kivar's guards pointed their weapons at the royal group, and Kivar walked up and put one arm around Vilandra, drawing her to him. She started to speak, but Kivar placed his lips against hers, quieting her with a kiss. Then Vilandra felt the keen obsidian blade of an assassin's dagger plunged deep into her side. Vilandra drew back and looked at Kivar. She lifted her hand from her side. Her hand was covered with blood… her blood. Kivar stood smiling, as Vilandra collapsed, dying, on the path. In his hand, Kivar held a dagger dripping with Vilandra's blood.**

**Zan took Ava by the hand and tried to flee with her along a side path, as the elder regents attempted to flee in the opposite direction. None got very far. Nyykto and his guards stepped out of the darkness in front of Zan and Ava. Zan pushed Ava behind him and threw a blast of power in Nyykto's direction. It hit two of his guards, incinerating them. Then, suddenly, Zan was hit from behind.**

**He awoke lying on the path in the gardens. As he tried to sit up, he noticed Ava lying beside him, her white dress stained with blood. She was dead. Nearby lay his parents, also dead, and near them, Vilandra. The guards had dragged their bodies back.  **

**"Hello, Zan," Nyykto said sarcastically. "It's so nice to see you again."**

**"I'm sure," Zan said. "Where's your master, Kivar?"**

**"He had other things to attend to. So he left me in charge."**

**"Why did you have to kill Ava? Why Vilandra? They were no threat to Kivar."**

**"Ah, quite the opposite, my deposed king. Vilandra thought that by forming an alliance with Kivar, she could get the royal family to a safehouse in the country where they could regroup later and save her from Kivar. Kivar is no fool. He's had her followed for months now. He knows all her plans. And by the way, the protectors and royal guards at the safehouse… all dead."**

**Nyykto smiled a nauseating smile.**

**"And Ava! Well, she was the Queen after all. We couldn't have anyone trying to reclaim the throne, could we?"**

**"But she was no threat to you."**

**"Maybe… maybe not. Doesn't matter now, does it?"**

**"How did you get Rath to betray the kingdom?"**

**Nyykto reared his head back and laughed. "Rath? On our side? You must have damaged your brain when you fell. Oh wait… that's right, there's nothing much there to damage is there? But not to worry, Rath's demise is already planned."**

**"I saw Rath throw himself over the top of a mob of traitors coming to kill us so he could be in the front. He was carrying a Vorkian assassin's dagger."**

**Nyykto laughed again. "I guess I should feel sorry for those fools… but I don't. Rath threw himself over the top of them to get in front so he could protect you. Fact is, he slew thirty of them… well, thirty-three if you count… but really none of them were worth counting. Idiots! Pathetic, weak idiots! Rath slew them all without even getting a scratch."**

**Nyykto sighed dramatically. "I (He emphasized this word) had to do the job myself."**

**"What did you do to Rath?"**

**"Nothing yet… well, nothing much."**

**"What did you do?"**

**"I just extracted a little information that we needed from his head… and put a few ideas into it to replace them. Wouldn't want it to be totally empty, would we?"**

**Zan cringed. He knew the procedure Nyykto used to extract information from his enemies' heads. It wasn't pleasant to experience… or to watch.**

**"Rath would never have let you do that. What did you do… attack him from a hiding place?"**

**Nyykto scowled. "What does it matter? I did it. That's what matters. But if you want to talk to him… he should be here very soon. Oh, I'm sorry! That's right! You won't be able to talk to him. You'll be dead… like lovely Ava here." Nyykto started to kick Ava's lifeless body. Zan jumped at Nyykto, momentarily breaking free of the guards that were restraining him. He almost reached Nyykto before being hit again from behind, sending his head swimming.**

**"Ah, chivalry! It's good to see it's not dead. Now me? I have no use for it myself. I take what I want. I have no time for such drivel. But enough. Rath will be here soon, and I want him to find you… dead. You remember those ideas I put into his head? Well, he's going to believe that [b]he[/b] killed you… and Ava… and Vilandra… and the elders." Nyykto struck swiftly at Zan with a Vorkian assassins' dagger. Zan easily evaded the thrust, even with his head still swimming from the last blow one of the guards had given him from behind. Nyykto was not the greatest or the most brilliant "soldier" in the kingdom. He considered himself a lady killer… and he was that, literally. And he was treacherous… so much so that it would have been a mistake to underestimate him ever. But bravery and fighting skills were not his strong suits. Another blow from a guard behind sent Zan spinning, and Nyykto took advantage of the opportunity to plunge his dagger into Zan's back. Zan watched the world spin, as he dropped to the path below, mortally wounded. Seeing Rath approaching, Nyykto and his guards quickly fled from the scene. **

**Rath approached the body of his beloved Vilandra. Then he turned, with a dazed expression, to the body of his king. Rath looked at the dagger in his hand, already stained with the blood of thirty-three of Kivar's soldiers. As Zan took his last ragged breath of life, Rath opened his hand slowly, allowing the dagger to drop to the ground, lifted his eyes to the sky, and cried.**

**Michael pulled his hand back. "I didn't do it! I didn't do it," he almost shouted with relief.**

**Maria held him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. "I always knew it, Michael. You could never hurt the ones you loved. It's just not you."**

**"It was Nyykto… Nicholas!"**

**Maria nodded. "I know. I saw it."**

**Michael looked at Maria. "You saw it?"**

**"I was holding your other hand."**

**Michael smiled slowly and kissed Maria on the lips.**

**"I didn't do it!"**

**tbc**


	6. Rath05

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"Searching for Michael"**

**Chapter 5**

**V**

**Max and Michael walked together along the concourse of the spaceport outside CoruzAntar, the Antarian capitol, after doing a scheduled periodic inspection of the logs that recorded the comings and goings of alien vessels. There were officials assigned to these matters, of course, but one thing Max had learned in this life (and from his previous life) was that it pays to be an active and involved leader. When a leader, especially a king or queen, sits back and "enjoys" his or her position and is not aware of what is going on in the kingdom, even if that leader is benevolent, bad things can happen… to the king. Max knew this only too well now.**

**It had been a week since Michael had learned that it was Nyykto who killed Zan and Ava in their previous lives… that Nyykto had later killed him as well… and that Kivar had killed Vilandra. He remembered Nyykto well as the treacherous and usually obnoxious "skin" known as Nicholas back on earth. Clearly, these revelations had lifted a large burden from Michael's shoulders. But the dreams had awakened new feelings in him as well… new feelings of confusion about his own identity. Who –or what- was the real Michael? Or was it Rath? Or was it something different entirely?" Michael had thought he finally knew who he was. But that was before the dreams. Now… he wasn't sure anymore.**

**"Max… what would you think if I took some time away?"**

**Max looked at Michael. "Away? As in a vacation? I'd have no objection, Michael. You and Maria can take time off for yourselves anytime you feel you need to."**

**"I don't mean a vacation… exactly. More like a journey."**

**"Okay… to where?"**

**"I'm not sure. I've been thinking about it, though. I think I need to find myself."**

**"You're right here, Michael," Max joked. "What else can I help you with?"**

**Michael smiled dutifully. "Yeah, sure, Max, but who do you see? Am I Michael Guerin, the Roswell kid who had to get emancipated from his own foster dad? Am I that feared warrior from the dream who slew people so casually?"**

**"They were the enemy, Michael. You were protecting the royals… and yourself."**

**"But I do that now, and I know I killed during the Battle for Antar when we came back, but I've never been what I saw in that dream."**

**Max looked at Michael, and in a way, he almost understood.**

**"Michael, I'd say you are who you are now. You're Michael –or Rath if you prefer… that's what they usually call you here- but you're Michael or Rath of this NEW realm. Remember that your DNA was mixed with human DNA on earth, and you are who you are now, not some memory from the past."**

**"I don't know, Max. That all sounds good and all, but this new Michael, or Rath- the one you think you know… who is he?"**

**Max looked at Michael searchingly. "He's my best friend, my bosom pal, my trusted and faithful general… and Maria's faithful husband."**

**Michael smiled slightly. The words sounded good. But his heart wasn't sure that that was all there was.**

**"It's the dream about Rath and everyone else being killed at the palace that concerns you, right, Michael? What about the other one?"**

**"The other…? Oh, the flying, you mean? No. That one's kind of nice actually… It's just a little weird that whenever I dream it, Maria and you and Liz always dream the same dream at the same time. I haven't figured that out yet. What do you make of it? You and I were the only ones who had the palace dream… or nightmare… or whatever it was."**

**Max shook his head. "No idea. Like you said, it's a pleasant dream… if it's a dream… but I don't know what to make of it either. Maybe some past life regression." Max smiled, indicating he meant this as a joke. Michael smiled, too.**

**"I don't think I ever had wings, Max. I think I'd remember that."**

**Max nodded. "Yeah. I have to agree."**

**"I'd like to take the new granolith and go back to the past, Max. I'd like to find myself… get to know myself… who I am. Maybe then I'll know who I am."**

**Max was stunned. "The past? Is that wise, Michael? I mean… that's a serious step."**

**"And I'm serious about it," Michael said emphatically.**

**Max nodded. "I can see that." There was a pause before anyone spoke again. "If you're determined to do that, Michael, you can use the sphere to go back in time if you would prefer. You can take the new granolith, of course, if that's what you want, but I just thought the sphere would get you there faster." **

**Michael smiled. "Yeah… that would be great. You wouldn't mind, Max?"**

**"Well, it's Liz's sphere, and I know we'd both rather have you here, but no, if that's what you need to do, I won't stand in your way. Have you mentioned this to Maria?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"She'll miss you, you know."**

**"Well, ya see, Max, that's the beauty of going back to the past. When I return, little or no time has to have passed for her or for anyone else here… no matter how long might have passed for me."**

**"Well, I wouldn't want you to leave and return five minutes later as an old man. I don't think Maria would be too happy about that either."**

**"I'm not talking years… maybe weeks."**

**Max nodded. "Well, you know the dangers, Michael… of traveling to the past, changing things. Alright. Would you like me to go with you… or anyone else?"**

**Michael shook his head. "No. I have to do this alone."**

**"I'll ask Liz to authorize the spheres to respond to your requests."**

**"Thanks, Max."**

**                                     ----------**

**Maria reached out with her hands and plucked a leaf from the top of the forest canopy as she rose upward toward the mountain's peak. Then she brought her wings down strongly, lifting herself up, up into the high east wind. She felt the breeze catch under her wings and lift her up even higher. Once over the peak, she glided gracefully down towards the swift azure river in the valley far below. Reaching the river, she turned upstream and skimmed the surface of the fast moving waters. A shadow on the water caught her attention, and she glanced over. Flying beside her was Liz, the tips of her fingers making eddies in the water as she glided along.**

**Maria smiled and waved, and Liz smiled back. Liz decided to fly back up into the sky, so Maria followed. Bringing their wings down in powerful strokes, the two rose easily back up through the wispy clouds into the high east wind, where they settled into a glide, allowing the wind to carry them along. Liz reached out with both hands toward Maria, and Maria reached back, taking Liz's hands in hers. The two began to spin together… slowly at first, then faster, like a helix… around and around. Liz was giggling giddily, and Maria couldn't help but giggle herself. It was a dizzying ride… but so much fun.**

**As Liz and Maria spiraled together like the blades of a helicopter, Michael and Max appeared. Liz reached out toward Max with one hand, and Max took her hand, stopping their spin. Michael took Maria's hands in his, as she released Liz, and the two couples glided apart. Liz put her arms around Max and held on, as they began to tumble together towards the river far below. Max brought them out of their tumble and into a graceful glide, hand in hand. Michael and Maria glided in the opposite direction, but both couples circled back toward each other one last time before gliding off in different directions with a wave of goodbye.**

**As Michael and Maria disappeared over the tops of the nearby mountains, Maria turned to Michael and took his hands in hers, folded her wings over him, and allowed him to pull her into his arms, his strong wings sustaining them both in flight. Maria reached up and took Michael's face in her hands. She kissed him passionately, and Michael eagerly returned the kiss. He brought his wings down powerfully, lifting them both upward toward the sky, through the wispy clouds, into the east winds far above. The winds would sustain their flight, providing ample lift to Michael's powerful wings… and allowing Michael to concentrate on other things on his mind.**

**tbc**


	7. Rath06

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**"A Different Perspective"**

**Chapter 6**

**VI**

**"Max, you know I don't mind Michael using the spheres… Or any of our group using them for that matter," Liz added reflectively. "But do you think it's wise for Michael to go back to the past like that… especially alone?"**

**Max smiled. "Who's gonna tell him if it's not?"**

**Liz nodded and smiled, too. "Well, I do know Michael, and I know that wouldn't be the easiest thing for anyone to try to tell him, but I just can't help being concerned about this quest of his."**

**"I know," Max agreed. "I'm concerned, too. But Michael has to find himself, as he put it. I don't know any way we can tell him he can't do that."**

**Liz shook her head. "I authorized the spheres to respond to Michael's call. He doesn't need to have them in his possession to use them you know."**

**"I know. Thanks, Liz. Michael will appreciate it. He told me to thank you properly."**

**"Properly in whose estimation?"**

**Max grinned. "Well, he didn't say." Max put his arms around Liz and kissed her passionately.**

**"Mmmm… That's a good start, Max. But letting Michael use my spheres to go back to the past alone is a really big request. Is that the best you can do?"**

**Max grinned and picked Liz up, carrying her toward the bedroom. "The things I do for my friends," he mumbled.**

**"Life can be tough," Liz agreed. "But what are friends for?"**

**                                           ----------**

**"Well, Michael, you're all set," Max said the next day, giving Michael a friendly slap on the arm. "Liz said just call the sphere and tell it where you want to go. It'll respond to you."**

**"Thanks, Max. I hope you thanked her a lot."**

**Max smiled slightly. "Yeah. She's making me work it out… sort of."**

**"Geez, Max, thanks. I don't know what to say."**

**Max shrugged. "That's alright… What are friends for?"**

**Michael studied Max's face a few moments and nodded. "If I know Liz, I don't think you were too upset with the terms, Maxwell, old pal. Don't sprain anything."**

**Max turned slightly red in spite of himself at Michael's obvious intuitiveness… or maybe Michael did just know them too well.**

**"Goodbye, Michael. Have a safe trip, or whatever it is."**

**Michael nodded. "Thanks, Max. You guys stay safe, too. Portal!"**

**"Ask," a voice said from the air.**

**"Take me to earth… Roswell, New Mexico… earth's date, uh, 1989… let's say, August."**

**The portal opened, and Michael stepped through, glancing back only to wave a final quick goodbye. He stepped out on the other side and onto a sidewalk. Turning around a couple of times to get his bearings, he recognized the UFO museum, and across the street from it, on his side, the CrashDown.**

**Michael shook his head. "Doesn't seem right… the CrashDown being on earth. Just seems like it belongs on Antar," he thought to himself.**

**As he turned, a toy glider shaped like a UFO sailed by him, and a dark-haired little girl, running to catch it, bumped into him.**

**"I'm sorry, mister. I didn't mean to bump into you, really. I was watching to see where our spaceship went…"**

**Michael looked up and saw another little girl waiting for her friend to return with the toy.**

**"That's okay," Michael said. "But you should be careful. If you run out in the street without looking, you might get hit by a car."**

**"Oh, I know that! I always look before going in the street."**

**"Well, that's very smart of you. How old are you?"**

**"Six! Today's my birthday!"**

**"Well, happy birthday. That's great. You stay safe now, okay?"**

**"I will. Thanks, mister."**

**Michael looked up again. A young man appeared in the door of the CrashDown.**

**"Lizzie! Come here."**

**"I'm coming, Daddy!"  
  
The man turned to the little blonde girl in the doorway. "Maria, you come on in, too. Why don't you girls go play inside a while. There's still some cake left." **

**Michael watched as the man shut the door. He walked over, but there was a hand-written note on the door: We will be closed from 2 PM to 6 PM for a birthday party. We look forward to seeing our guests again tomorrow at the CrashDown. Thank you. Jeff & Nancy Parker, owners.**

**Michael stood there staring at the note. "Maria," he said to himself, trying to retain a mental image of the little blonde girl who had been standing there. "That was my Maria… and Liz."**

**He thought about knocking but decided against it. It wasn't what he had come for, and anyway, what would he say? "Hi, I'm Maria's husband? I'm an alien from the future, and I took Maria to a planet called Antar to live? Oh, and by the way, my friend is married to your daughter, Lizzie, and they live on Antar, too? No…" Michael smiled a sort of sheepish smile. "They'd think I was one of those UFO freaks who had finally lost it and gone over the edge, and Jim Valenti –or was it his Dad who was sheriff in '89- would lock me up and throw away the key!" Michael's smile turned into a halfway grin. Then he turned away with a quick look back and a sigh.**

**Michael put his hands in his pockets as far in as he could get them and walked on down the sidewalk. At the corner, he stopped to think where he should go. The answer was made for him. The sheriff's car drove by, and in the back seat was a little tow-haired boy, about six. The little boy looked scared… or perhaps confused. Michael wondered why the sheriff would be arresting such a young suspect, but there was something more, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He walked in the direction the sheriff's car had gone. After walking eight or nine blocks, he saw the sheriff come out of a building and leave without the boy.**

**"That's strange," Michael thought. "It doesn't look like a jail."**

**It appeared to be a public building, so Michael walked in. After looking around the lobby, he walked over to a man at a window.**

**"Sir, what is this building?"**

**The man looked at Michael a moment. "It's the office of children's welfare. Can I help you?"**

**"No. No… I just, well, I was wondering, that's all." As Michael spoke, a man entered and sauntered up to the window beside him. Michael didn't pay much attention to him.**

**"I came for the boy. The sheriff called and said he caught 'im hidin' out by the tower."**

**All the blood almost ran out of Michael's head. He would have known that voice anywhere… even after all these years. Michael turned quickly and looked. It was Hank. Michael's first instinct was to hide his face, but then he realized that Hank would not know him as he was now. And anyway, Hank was looking for a six-year-old boy.**

**"Sign here," the clerk said. "Sheriff Valenti said if the boy keeps runnin' away, they might have to place him with someone else. He's only been with you less than a week, and already the sheriff has had to go lookin' for 'im three times… or was it four? Anyway, he's getting' a little miffed about it."**

**"Don't worry," Hank said. "I'll make sure he don't run away agin."**

**The clerk looked up.**

**"Oh, I don't mean nothin' by that," Hank said. "I jus' mean I'll, you know, give 'im a good talkin' to so's he knows where he belongs. I really love that boy."**

**The clerk nodded, but clearly he didn't quite believe the man. A deputy appeared at the door to a room in the back.**

**"Mister Guerin," the clerk said. "Here's Michael. I don't want to hear that you did anything illegal, you know? You wouldn't even've got the boy except you signed an affidavit swearin' you gave up the bottle, and he's a little old to adopt. The last two children we found were taken in by a nice couple, but it's hard to find adoptive parents for these older children. I hope you really are off the bottle. That foster parent check you'll be getting' every month depends on it."** ****

**"Oh, I am! I am! I'm as sober as the day is long. Ain't touched the stuff in a year. Ain't gonna never touch the stuff agin', I swear it."**

**The clerk rolled his eyes but held his tongue. He was pretty sure he noticed the smell of alcohol on Hank's breath, though Hank had made some effort to disguise it with mints and gum.**

**"Here you are Hank," the deputy said. "Take the boy on home. We don't wanna see him in here any more. The sheriff is beginnin' to think you ain't a'treatin' him right."**

**"I treat 'im real good, deputy. The boy's just ungrateful." Hank planted a kiss on the top of the young boy's head. "I love this boy to death."**

**Michael's fists tightened impulsively, and he fought the urge to end this charade right here, but he held his peace until Hank had left.**

**"Sir?"**

**"Huh? Oh, you again. What do you need now?"**

**"I was wondering… how well did anyone check to make sure that, uh, that man… Hank is it… is really sober now or isn't beating the boy or mistreating him?"**

**The clerk sighed and put down his pen. "Mister… uh?"**

**"Oh, uh, Rath… Mister Rath." Michael cringed as soon as he said it. He couldn't believe that that was the first name he could come up with.**

**"Well, Mister Rath, you have to understand something. This is a small town. We have limited resources to do extensive investigations. The man swore he ain't drinkin' now. He gave us a signed affidavit sayin' that he ain't. If you got some evidence that says he is, just say so, but unless we see him drinkin' or runnin' around the town drunk, I'm not sure there's anythin' we can do."**

**Michael started to turn away.**

**"Oh, Mister Rath?"**

**Michael turned around and looked at the clerk again. "Yes?"**

**"You want to adopt him?"**

**It might have been an offhand or a flippant remark, or even a joke, but it hit Michael like a cannonball in the stomach.**

**"I… I can't. Believe me, I'd like to."**

**The clerk smiled. "Yeah, they all say that." He looked at Michael's face and looked into his eyes. "But I believe you. You look sincere."**

**Michael nodded and turned away quickly, as he was sure that his eyes were beginning to redden. He exited the building without looking back. The clerk picked up his pen again and sighed to himself, "I really wish you could help, Mister Rath." **

**Outside the building, Michael noticed a cab approaching, and he hailed it over to the side.**

**"Where to?"**

**"There's a trailer park just outside of town…"**

**"Yeah, I know the one. That where you want to go?"**

**"Yeah," Michael said, distractedly looking out the window. But he wasn't really paying attention to the scenery.**

**tbc**


	8. Rath07

The Four Faces of Rath  
"Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot."  
  
Chapter 7  
  
VII  
  
On Antar, Liz and Max sat in their "great chair" together. Liz was sitting sideways on Max's lap with her arms around Max's neck, her legs dangling over the side of the chair. Max smiled and let his lips be drawn to Liz's. As their lips slowly met, Liz closed her eyes and savored Max's kiss as though she were tasting a very fine -and expensive- wine.  
  
"Uh. ahem."  
  
Liz opened her eyes, and Max looked up.  
  
"What is it, Kyle?"  
  
"Sorry, Max, but you have visitors. Thought you'd like to know." Kyle smiled slightly.  
  
"Okay," Max said, as Liz jumped off his lap, looking endearingly sheepish.  
  
"We'll continue your, uh, CPR lessons later," Max said to Liz with a grin.  
  
Liz just smiled.  
  
"Who is it, Kyle?"  
  
"It's Diane and Dan Klein."  
  
"Oh! Well. that's a nice surprise! They must have got back from their honeymoon. Have 'em come in. Liz and I will meet them in here."  
  
Kyle nodded and glanced at Liz again, then he turned and walked out of the room with a smile on his face.  
  
As Diane walked into the room, Liz ran and hugged her. "It's so great to see you again, Diane! How was the honeymoon?"  
  
"Oh, Liz, I've gotta tell you about it. It was fabulous beyond all words or imagination."  
  
Dan smiled. Max took his hand for a moment, more in the Antarian tradition than actually a handshake. "So you guys had a good time, huh?"  
  
"Great," Dan said, nodding emphatically. "I still can't believe I've been to two alien planets now. I'd tell you about it, but I think I better let Diane. She'd never forgive me if she didn't get to tell it."  
  
Diane smiled. "Well, I'll let you tell them the other thing, Dan."  
  
"Oh, thanks a lot, Diane," Dan chuckled.  
  
"What other thing," Max asked.  
  
"Well, right before we came here, the President asked if you could do him a favor."  
  
"The President? As in. of the USA?"  
  
"The same."  
  
"What does he want from us?"  
  
Dan grinned and proceeded to relate the President's request to Max and Liz.  
  
"Diane, tell me about Yxtiar," Liz said impatiently. I want to know everything!"  
  
"Well, not everything, Liz," Diane replied. "I'm a modest girl."  
  
"Come on, spill it, Diane. Everything!"  
  
Diane laughed.  
  
"Yxtiar is beautiful. And it seems the whole planet is full of hot springs, some surrounded by beaches, others isolated and hidden by huge rocks and warm waterfalls. They have bath tub-sized ones, swimming-pool-sized ones, even lake-sized ones. You can soak in a huge warm spring with other aliens from all over the galaxy or by yourselves in one just big enough for two. In fact, there are so many hot springs there that you can usually even find a large one that is isolated and, uh, intimate."  
  
Liz grinned. "I've never been there. It's definitely on our list of places we have to visit, though, right Max?'  
  
Max nodded and smiled. "Liz has been wanting to go there ever since Alex and Isabel came back two years ago. But things have kept us pretty busy here."  
  
"Oh, Max," Diane said, "you have to [b]make[/b] time for relaxation and fun. It will never come to you. I found that out. Make the time, and take Liz there!"  
  
"Please, please, please, Max," Liz coaxed.  
  
"Alright! Alright! I know when I'm outnumbered," Max said. "We'll go. soon."  
  
Liz winked at Diane and smiled from ear to ear.  
  
"You know," Dan said, "they have this amazing drink there called a Dashtyri."  
  
Diane nodded. "Oh, yeah! I could lie in a hot spring and drink Dashtyri's all day for the rest of my life," Diane said, sighing. Give me a Dashtyri and a hot spring with Dan in it, and I've got everything I ever need."  
  
Dan smiled but reddened slightly. "You know what's fun, Max," Dan said. "Sitting at a bar with a dozen alien beings with all these different digestive systems drinking Dashtyri's."  
  
Diane snickered. "There was this one that drank through his nose. You don't even want to know how it eats! It was a he, wasn't it, Dear?"  
  
Dan shrugged. "I think so."  
  
"Anyway," Diane continued, "there was another one that had a funnel-shaped head, and it poured Dashtyri's into the top of its head. At meal times, it put the food in the top of its head and made sounds like a coffee grinder."  
  
At this point, Liz and Diane were both laughing hysterically, and Dan and Max finally succumbed.  
  
Max rubbed his eyes as they teared up from laughter. "Liz, you girls are awful. Those aliens probably went home and told their families all about you and Dan, Diane."  
  
Diane almost snorted, nodding her head briskly. "I wouldn't doubt it! I did see some of them staring at us."  
  
"I guess we might look pretty weird to something with a funnel for a head," Dan laughed.  
  
"Oh, Dear," Max said, holding out his hand effeminately, "you should have seen these aliens that stick their food into the front of their faces, and their faces open up." Max laughed, as he did his mock impression of the other aliens telling their families about Dan and Diane. Everyone collapsed in hysterics. They even heard Kyle laughing in the next room.  
  
"Kyle," Max called, "Come in here! You should be here, too. You and Dan are friends."  
  
Kyle walked back into the room, and Dan stood up and gave him a proper Antarian hand hold.  
  
"Good to see you again, Dan," Kyle said.  
  
"Yeah! Great to see you, too, Kyle! I showed the President the clips made by VideoStream XSO of Xarius when we were fighting the Dragons of Drago, and he was quite impressed."  
  
"You hear that, guys," Kyle said, turning to Max and Liz. "I'm famous."  
  
"It was just one person, Kyle," Max said.  
  
"Yeah, but the President! .Doesn't that count for extra points or something?"  
  
Max laughed.  
  
"Well," Liz said, "there's not a soul on Antar or Xarius who doesn't know who you and Dan are since those clips were shown, Kyle, so I'd say you're famous. even if Dan, Diane, and the President are the only three people on earth who know about it."  
  
"I'll take that," Kyle said with a grin.  
  
"The President was really impressed, huh," Kyle mused to Dan.  
  
"Oh yeah! He said, where were you when he needed you? He used to own a team or something in Texas before he was the Governor there or the President."  
  
Kyle and Dan both laughed.  
  
For the rest of the afternoon, Dan and Diane told Liz, Max, and Kyle about all their adventures on the warm springs planet of Yxtiar. That evening, after Dan and Diane left, Max and Liz received another guest, one who would be staying for a few days. Kyle watched momentarily from the doorway, as Liz and Max talked to their guest. He was seated in a large chair with his back to Kyle, and Kyle could just see a right arm as it gestured up and down during the conversation.  
  
Kyle shook his head and smiled then walked into the entertainment den and turned on the Videoscreen, flipping the channels to earth cable, something Varec had given them a few years back. He wondered who was footing the bill for it now that Zwolinski and his Special Unit had "disappeared."  
  
"Fox News. Always fair and balanced." the anchor on TV proclaimed, as Kyle punched in channel 1239.  
  
"And in other news today, since the terror alert was raised from yellow to orange, following the capture of three prominent Al-Qaida leaders yesterday, Vice-President Dick Cheney has once again dropped out of sight. Sources quoting President Bush report that Cheney is safely ensconced in a remote location known only to a few people and will likely be returning to the White House in a few days."  
tbc Coming next: "A Vengeful Angel" 


	9. Rath08

The Four Faces of Rath  
"A Vengeful Angel"  
  
Chapter 8  
  
VIII  
Michael paid the cab driver then turned and walked in the direction of Hank's trailer. He still remembered every rock; every step he took drew him back to the past. As he drew nearer to the trailer, he heard noises. It sounded like something hitting the side of the trailer from the inside. And yelling. He heard Hank's voice.  
  
"You think you can make a fool out of me, boy, and get away with it? Huh? Do ya? Is that what you think?"  
  
Michael heard a sound that he recognized painfully. the sound of the back of Hank's hand hitting a face. a child's face. Michael quickened his pace.  
  
"Why don'tcha cry? Go on! Cry, I said! I wanna see ya cry! You always just sit there like that. smirking at me inside. Don't think I don't know it. You're a freak, Michael! You won't cry. not even when I rap you on the mouth. You don't even blink. You ain't normal! You're a f*'ing freak!"  
  
There was no reply from the boy, who sat shaking but silent, blood streaming from a badly split lip onto his dirty T-shirt. Hank picked up a half-empty bottle of vodka and took a couple more long swigs then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.  
  
"I'll show you! I'm gonna teach you to cry. right now you're gonna learn."  
  
Hank raised the bottle over his head and turned toward the boy. Suddenly, the bottle exploded in Hank's hand, as the door to the trailer burst open. In the door stood the shape of a man. but not a man. This figure was glowing with an aura. Michael didn't even know that he had the ability to glow. It was the rage that he felt at what Hank was doing. was about to do. Hank was already half drunk, having consumed most of the bottle of vodka and, apparently, a few beers, too, judging from the empty cans. He stood there, staring at the glowing apparition in the doorway.  
  
"What the hell are you? Some kind of guard. guardian angel or somethin'?"  
  
Michael said nothing, but the intensity of the glow increased. Things began to explode all around Hank in the trailer. Hank tried to dodge.  
  
"Come on! I didn't hurt no one! He had to be punishsh. punished. The boy's a freak! He don't even cry when I bust 'im in the mouth."  
  
More items exploded. the lights in the lamp, on the ceiling, in the bedroom. Hank's oven blew open behind him, and several six-packs of beer he had stashed in the oven began to explode, one bottle at a time.  
  
"Awwww. not the beers!" Hank howled. "You can't be real! I don't believe in you! There ain't no God. If there ain't no God there cain't be no angels."  
  
Michael silently raised his hand, and Hank flew backwards, crashing into the oven. He staggered to his feet again, holding onto the oven door for support. Michael flashed a bolt of energy that looked very much like a lightning bolt at Hank's feet, setting both his shoes on fire. Hank howled and dropped to the floor, struggling to get the burning shoes off his feet quickly.  
  
"Okay. okay! So you're a guardian angel. or the devil. or something. What do you want with me? What'd I do to you?"  
  
Michael finally spoke. "Not to me. to Michael. You mistreated him."  
  
I'll treat 'im good! I promise! Look!"  
  
Hank hobbled over to the wide-eyed boy, who sat staring in awe at his "guardian angel," and wiped the blood off his lip and chin with a napkin, being far more gentle than he was accustomed to being.  
  
"Go. go sit down at the table, boy. I'll get you something to eat."  
  
"His name isn't [i]boy[/i]," Michael said. "It's [i]Michael[/i]."  
  
"Michael," Hank nodded.  
  
"I'm watching you," Michael said ominously to Hank. "I'm going to be watching you all the time. If you mistreat that boy again, a couple of burning shoes will be the least of your problems. Tell me you understand what I'm saying."  
  
Hank nodded. Somehow, he had sobered up considerably since Michael had arrived.  
  
"I was drunk. It's the bottle. I didn't mean to hurt the boy."  
  
"But you did."  
  
"I won't hurt 'im ag'in. I swear it. I'll change."  
  
Michael nodded. "And I'll be watching to be sure that you do."  
  
Michael turned and walked out of the trailer. The little boy sat at the table, awe-stricken, looking back with his hand on the back of the chair, as he watched his guardian angel depart. He smiled slightly and raised his hand almost timidly to wave goodbye.  
  
Outside the trailer, Michael closed his eyes and pursed his lips momentarily, allowing the tension that had built up in him to dissipate. Then he walked back toward the road. As he walked, a hand touched him from behind. Michael swung around to see Max standing there.  
  
"Max? What the. Cripes! Where did you come from?"  
  
"I was checking to see how my best friend is doing," Max said. "That was pretty cool. what you did for that little boy. Do you think Hank will treat him better now?"  
  
Michael shrugged. "For a while. I don't expect him to keep being a 'good guy' forever, though. Realistically, maybe a few days. maybe a week. till he puts on another borrachera."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"You know, get's stinkin' drunk."  
  
"You've been around Maria too much, Michael."  
  
"No way, Max. Not possible." Michael shook his head and smiled. Max grinned understandingly and nodded his agreement.  
  
"Did you do it for that little boy. or was it for you? He is you, you know."  
  
Michael stopped walking and thought for a moment. "I know he's me. but I guess I wasn't really thinking about that. All I could think of was Hank hurting him." Michael stopped and thought again then added, ".the way he used to hurt me."  
  
Max nodded. "That's what I thought. You always took Hank's abuse. When you couldn't take it anymore, you got emancipated. You didn't follow Hank back here today to avenge yourself. You came here for that little boy."  
  
"Yeah. I guess I did," Michael admitted. "So what does that mean? .I'm some kind of good guy or something?"  
  
Max smiled. "You're a guardian angel, Michael. And I didn't even know you believed in God."  
  
"I never said that," Michael replied, looking at Max. "Well, I never said I did or didn't. Maria does. and I've always trusted Maria a lot. Liz does, too," he added, glancing over at Max. "I just said I never celebrated Christmas or anything when I was growing up. with Hank. You're the one who didn't believe God was real, Max."  
  
"Did I say that?" Max shrugged. "I don't remember. I could've said that, I guess."  
  
"Yep. You did."  
  
Max was silent for a few moments. "Well," he said at end, "I've seen a lot of things that can be explained. and some that can't. Let's just say I'm not closing my mind to any possibilities anymore and leave it at that."  
  
"I know this, though," Max continued, stopping again to look at Michael, "Somewhere out there, there's something greater than me. and there's a drunk and a wide-eyed little boy in that trailer back there who [b]really[/b] believe in guardian angels now."  
  
Michael nodded and grinned. "Yeah, I guess they do."  
tbc Coming next: "Party Favors and Real Prizes" 


	10. Rath09

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Party Favors and Real Prizes**

**Chapter 9**

**IX**

Michael and Max walked back toward town together. It took forty-five minutes, but there was no hurry now.

**"You came to make sure I wasn't getting in trouble, didn't you, Max?"**

**Max grinned. "You? Get in trouble? Whatever would make you think that, Michael?"**

**"I've been known to be a little impetuous I guess… when I was younger."**

**"Aw, I wouldn't say that, Michael. Bullheaded maybe… act first and think later maybe…"**

**Michael lunged suddenly and grabbed Max by the throat, shaking him playfully. "Like this? How long till I'm supposed to think about it and let you go?" **

**Max made choking sounds. "Yeah, that's it! And now would be a pretty good time!"**

**"Yeah, well, I wanted to do that to Hank a little while ago."**

**Max smiled. "But you didn't. You've changed, Michael."**

**"I just took the abuse when I was a child. I didn't fight back at all."**

**"That's not what I meant," Max said, shaking his head. "When we were in high school, if you had seen Hank about to smack a child in the head with a vodka bottle –not you, I mean, but another child- what would you have done?"**

**Michael thought about it. "I don't know. My first thought probably would have been to vaporize him… then I would have thought about the options."**

**"Exactly. I'm not saying that that would have been a bad option of course…"**

**Michael smiled.**

**"But you handled it so much differently today… better."**

**Michael nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, but I still don't know who 'I' am, Max. I guess I just know who I'm not."**

**Max stopped and looked at his best friend… "That's a start, Michael." **

**"Do you want me to stay a while?"**

**Michael shook his head. "No. Go on home, Max. You came, you 'rescued' me, now in those immortal words, 'Go home!'"**

**"Who said that?"**

**"The French, I think… or the Arabs."**

**Max laughed. "Portal!" **

**"Bye, Michael. I hope you find what you're looking for."**

**Michael smiled and raised his hand slightly to say goodbye… then the portal closed.**

**Michael stood there alone for a moment thinking then turned and walked back towards the center of town. As he neared the place where he had first appeared earlier through the portal, he saw the sheriff's car in front of the CrashDown. At first, he thought something might be wrong, but then a small boy ran out and jumped into the car with the sheriff.**

**"How was the party," the sheriff asked, as the boy jumped in.**

**"Great, Dad. Look! I won a prize!"**

**"Well alright! Way to go, Kyle!"**

**The sheriff looked back towards the door. "Alex, you want me to drop you off at your house on the way?"**

**"No thanks, Mister Valenti. My Mom's comin' to get me."**

**The sheriff waved at the other 6-year-old then drove off with his son. Michael looked down at his feet for a moment and swallowed a small lump in his throat.**

**"Get real, Michael," he said to himself. "How would a kid living in the trailer park at the edge of town with a drunk like Hank ever have known someone like the Parkers? Max and Iz maybe… The Evanses were good, decent, social people… but, of course, Max and Iz would have just been found in the desert a week or so ago, like I was, so they wouldn't know Liz or the Parkers yet either, ****I guess… We didn't even meet Liz and Maria until third grade."******

**Michael sighed then smiled. "All those years, Maria and I were ships passing in the night… just like Max and Liz… never knowing what the future held for us."**

**As Michael thought about it, he began to feel better. "Alex and Kyle knew Maria and Liz way back then… but I've got Maria now… Max has Liz. Alex and Kyle were at that party and won the party favors, but Max and I won the real prizes."**

**Michael smiled widely for a moment then stopped suddenly.**

**"Wait. Alex wound up with Isabel in the end, so I guess he won, too… and I've never seen Kyle happier than he's been with Jeliya, so I guess we all won." Michael thought about it for a moment. **

**"Okay, so what's wrong with everyone winning," Michael asked himself. "I can live with that!"**

**Michael smiled again. For a while, he began to think that maybe he did know who he was. If it just weren't for the dreams. He stopped and thought about the dreams. He knew that they would continue to dog him. Coming to terms with his early life in Roswell… and Hank… if indeed he had, would be nice. But Michael knew that the answer to the dreams would not be found here. Ultimately, it would only be found on Antar… in his previous life. But that's the last place in time he wanted to go. Something about going back there terrified him like nothing else in his life ever had, and he didn't know why.**

**tbc**

**Coming next: "Not in a Million Years"**


	11. Rath10

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"Not in a Million Years"**

**Chapter 10**

**X**

** Michael took one last look at the CrashDown. He didn't see Maria or Liz, and he didn't wait to find out who else might have come to the party. As soon as no one was looking, he moved into a side alley…**

**"Portal!"**

**"Ask."**

**"Take me to the year, uh, 1999… in Roswell."**

**The portal appeared, and Michael stepped quickly through it. He stepped out on the other side and walked back onto the main road. The UFO Museum didn't look much different… and the CrashDown was the same as he had just left it except for a new coat of paint in a different color on the sign outside. Michael walked over to the door. The CrashDown was open… and fairly busy it would appear. He started to enter but then changed his mind. As he turned, he noticed a group of tourists leaving the UFO museum wearing various garish mementos of their visit. Michael walked quickly across the street then went into the museum. When he emerged, ten minutes later, he was wearing a UFO hat that tilted over his left ear like a crashed spaceship, alien-eyes sunglasses, and a T-shirt that said, "I was abducted in Roswell."**

**"What'll it be," Liz asked, smiling at the sight of the new customer. Michael noticed Maria behind the counter giggling and shaking her head. He was sure that they couldn't recognize him. "It must be this stupid UFO crap," he thought to himself. But he wasn't going to take it off; the whole purpose of wearing it was to make them think he was someone else.**

**"A cherry Coke… Monster Crashburger… Alien Fries, and…" he looked around, and not seeing any on the table "…a bottle of Tabasco sauce."**

**Liz looked at him suspiciously then glanced back at the cook in the kitchen. Michael looked to see what Liz was looking at. It was him… well, his 1999 counterpart anyway. Liz looked at the new customer again and decided that any resemblance must be a coincidence. Clearly, this guy was older than Michael… and a lot less picky about what he wore. Liz grinned again and took the order to the kitchen.**

**"Order, Michael!"**

**"Yeah, yeah! Just give it to me."**

**"Take a look out there, Michael. You see that guy at table three?"**

**Michael glanced through the door. "The one with the UFO crashed on his head?"**

**"Yeah. That could be you in… say fifteen years."**

**Michael looked at the man with the alien-eyes sunglasses, the crashed UFO tilted over his left ear, and the "abducted" T-shirt. **

**"I never knew you had that cruel streak in you, Liz."**

**Maria snickered. **

**"Well, he does look like you… maybe a few years from now…" **

**Michael glanced at the customer again. "Only if I lose my mind and my last shred of dignity between now and then… and if that happens, promise me you'll shoot me before anyone else sees me and I totally ruin my image, okay?"**

**Maria lost the battle for self-control and had to leave the kitchen, laughing and waving her hand as she walked out the back door. Michael plopped a burger onto a plate with some fries and handed it to Liz.**

**"I don't think it's done, Michael."**

**Michael waved his hand over the burger quickly, making it well done. **

**"Satisfied now?" **

**Liz carried the order to the stranger and placed it in front of him on the table. Michael tasted the fries approvingly then bit into the burger. He quickly spit it out.**

**"Is something wrong, sir," Liz asked.**

**"Wrong? No… yes. This tastes terrible!"**

**"I'm sorry, sir. You want me to have the cook make you another one?"**

**Michael knew full well exactly what was wrong with the hamburger. He had long ago learned that "cooking" the burgers with energy from his hand imparted a strange taste to the meat… the same taste he was tasting now.**

**"No… let it go. Wait… On second thought, let me talk to the cook."**

**Liz started to object, but Michael was already up and walking toward the kitchen. Half way there, he decided against it. He looked back at Liz and returned to his seat, put the burger back on the plate, and handed it to Liz. "Just tell him… uh… the meat will taste better if he cooks it slowly… Tell him it was cooked too fast… must have been a power surge or something."**

**Liz nodded and took the burger back to Michael in the kitchen.**

**"Too fast?" he heard Michael exclaim in the kitchen. "I could set one outside in the sun! It's probably hot enough out there! Maybe in a couple o' hours, he'd think it was just right…" Michael plopped another patty on the grill. "I think that UFO damaged his brain when it crashed onto his head," he muttered to himself more than to Liz. **

**A few minutes later, he finished cooking the new burger. Maria, who had just come back in, offered to take it to the customer. **

**"Here you are, sir. See if that's okay for you."**

**Michael tasted it and nodded. "Just right," he said. "Thank the cook for me."**

**Maria suddenly realized that she was staring at Michael. He seemed to notice it at the same time.**

**"Oh! …Oh! I'm sorry," Maria said, "It's just that you look so much like our cook! I can't get over it."**

**"I do?" Michael asked. "Wow! How can you tell with these sunglasses and this hat? Oh! I'll bet your cook has some just like them!"**

**Maria's lips broke into a slow smile then she began to laugh, shaking her head. "I don't think so. No… I'm sure he doesn't have any like those."**

**"What a shame," Michael said. "Well, I could give him mine. I could get some more!"**

**"Oh, no… no! Don't bother," Maria said. "I don't think he… needs them."**

**"Okay," Michael said, finishing up his meal. "But if he wants some just let me know. I have a cousin who's a wholesale distributor, and he can get them for me real cheap."**

**"I'll tell Michael you offered," Maria said, nodding and trying hard not to giggle. Michael paid his bill, put a tip on the table, and walked out. Liz watched him walk down the street then she and Maria both broke into hysterical laughter. **

**Michael looked out of the kitchen. "What's so funny? Geez! Don't you two have anything to do?"**

**Maria made a little flipping sign with her hand, and the two of them started cleaning off the tables, which had mostly cleared out by now.**

**"He's bringing you a hat and some specs like the ones he had on," Maria yelled to Michael. "His cousin sells them." She winked at Liz.**

**Michael came back to the door. "Don't even imagine that you girls'll ever see me in that get-up. Not gonna happen! You'd have to put that stuff on my dead body!" He started to go back to the grill then turned back around again and added "…and if you do that, I swear I'll come back and haunt you for as long as you live."**

**Maria and Liz both laughed.**

**Down the street, Michael ducked into a side alley and called for the portal.**

**"Take me back about six months… just to before I started working at the CrashDown… I want to speak with my past self… but a little further back in time. Not here."**

**Michael thought he was being very specific in his instructions, but with the sphere, it is always a good idea to be [b]clear[/b] as well. The portal opened, and Michael stepped through. As he stepped out on the other side, he fell into a sitting position… in the back seat of a car.**

**The passenger in the front seat was Maria, and she was yelling at the driver, who appeared to be his younger self…**

**"You're telling me to get out of my own car? This is my car, Michael! Well, actually, it's my mother's car, and if anything happens to it, life as I know it will be over. So wherever this car goes I go!"**

**"Suit yourself. You had your chance," the driver said.**

**"Oh my God! You're kidnapping me! No… you're abducting me!" Maria exclaimed in utter disbelief.**

**tbc **

**Coming next: "285 South Plus One"**


	12. Rath11

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"285 South Plus One"**

**Chapter 11**

**XI**

When Michael stepped through the portal, he asked it to take him to his younger self in a slightly earlier time. He did not specify under what conditions he wished to speak with or be seen by his alter ego… nor did he specify that his younger self needed to be alone when they met. That was his mistake. The sphere cannot be expected to know these things. Even so, Shaqor, the sphere's original owner, had long suspected that the sphere of the portal had a certain "warped sense of humor." Now Michael found himself in the back seat of Maria's mother's car headed south on highway 285 with his younger self driving –at 90 plus miles an hour- and Maria protesting vigorously that he was abducting her. It's not exactly what Michael had had in mind.

**Spotting her cell phone on the seat, Maria pressed Liz's number secretly but continued to talk to Michael, trying to give Liz clues about which way they were headed and what was happening to her, but Michael noticed and threw the phone out the window. Maria turned to try to grab the phone as it sailed out the window, and, at that moment, she noticed the other Michael in the back seat… still wearing the alien-eyes sunglasses and UFO hat. The scream that followed was loud enough and long enough to leave both Michaels partially deaf for at least the next few minutes. **

**"Who the hell are you," the younger Michael yelled as he brought the car to a screeching stop off the side of the highway. "Get out!"**

**Michael took off the UFO hat and the alien-eyes sunglasses. "About time that I dumped these… and good riddance! Sorry, guys, but the T-shirt's stayin'," he said. "I'm not doing a striptease here."**

**Maria gasped, and the younger Michael stood with his mouth open for almost a minute.**

**"Who [b]are[/b] you," he asked again. **

**"And why do you look like Michael," Maria added. "What's going on here?"**

**"Long story," Michael said from the back seat. "Let's just say I'm from… well… the future sort of…"**

**"Sort of?" Maria said. "Sort of? What does that mean? You're from the future? So… what you're telling me is that you [b]are[/b] Michael?" Maria had put the clues together quickly. She was fairly shouting now, and her tone had risen more than a few decibels in pitch as well. "Omigod! I'm being abducted by two of you? I knew I shouldn't have got out of bed today. Mom's going to kill me! Ohhhh… maybe she'll never see me again."**

**"Maria!" the younger Michael exclaimed.**

**"What?"**

**"Shut up!"**

**"I can't help it. I talk a lot when I'm nervous." Maria fumbled in her purse for her cedar oil.**

**Michael in the back seat was watching the scene in the front seat play out with a distressed look on his face. As the younger Michael pulled the car back onto the highway, a police car appeared, and the policeman stared at Michael and his companions as he drove by.**

**"Well, it's a good thing for you, I guess, that you pulled off when you did," Maria said. "You would have just got a ticket for speeding. Besides, I told you you can't drive this car over 80… the engine won't take it."**

**"You had your chance to get out, Maria. You didn't, so stow it."**

**Michael in the back had heard enough. "You… in the driver's seat…"**

**"It's Michael," the driver exclaimed, exasperated.**

**"Yeah, that's what I said… You!"**

**The driver grimaced and glanced back at his future counterpart.**

**"What?"**

**"Why are you yelling at her? You're the one who stole her car?"**

**"Borrowed it!" Michael exclaimed from the front. "You should know that! Didn't you say you were me?"**

**Michael in the back seat started to speak but thought about his younger self's words. He was right, after all. He knew it was himself speaking to Maria. But somehow he didn't like it all the same.**

**"Treat her with a little respect," Michael said from the back.**

**"Thank you," Maria muttered, almost too shocked to believe she had heard it.**

**The younger Michael looked at his future self. "Man, what is it with you? Did I get brain damage or something in the future that I should know about?"**

**"Stop being a frikkin' horse's ass!" Michael said from the back.**

**"Alright, that's it!" the younger Michael exclaimed, pulling off again and opening the doors, "Get out!"**

**"Get me out!" Michael said from the back seat.**

**The younger Michael glared at his future self, unsure what he should do. Finally, he closed the door back, apparently realizing that in any fight with himself the loser had to be him… on one end or the other. He started the car up and drove back onto highway 285, quickly pushing the speed back to 92 miles per hour. **

**For a while, no one spoke. Then there was a "clunk," and the engine began to smoke.**

**"Oh, great," Maria said. "I told you you couldn't drive over 80. Now you've blown the engine!"**

**"Maria!" the younger Michael started… then he glanced at his future self in the back seat.**

**"What?" Maria asked.**

**"Never mind… I'll fix the stupid engine." He got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.**

**"You may need my help," Michael said from the back seat.**

**"I doubt it, Grandpa. I can handle it myself."**

**"I seem to remember that you blew the engine up the last time you tried to fix it, junior."**

**The younger Michael bit his lip and turned around. "Alright, so what would you do?"**

**Michael got out of the back seat and opened the hood. Both Michael's bent over to take a look at the engine.**

**"Well, the last time, you touched this thing over here and fried it. What you should have done is this…" the future Michael reached into the engine and laid his hand on the carburetor. Instantly, the engine erupted in flames. The younger Michael grinned then started to laugh.**

**"Great, Grandpa! You fried it again! I'm impressed!"**

**"Shut up and help me put out the flames," Michael said.**

**Together, the two managed to put out the fire before much damage was done.**

**"I can fix a space ship, and I still don't understand a damned prehistoric internal combustion engine," Michael grimaced.**

**The younger Michael was still grinning. "Well, don't look at me. I'm more of an artist than a mechanic. You need Kyle or somebody to fix these things."**

**"Doesn't look like we're going anywhere tonight," future Michael said.**

**The younger Michael nodded. "Nope! I'd say not. I'll take…" **

**He started to say, "the back seat," but future Michael was sitting in it again… and Maria would need the front seat. He sighed and turned to walk toward a small motel across the road.**

**"Where are you going," Maria yelled.**

**"I need some sleep," Michael answered, "and I'm not going to get it out here."**

**"Well, you're not leaving me out here by myself," Maria said. "I'm coming with you.**

**"You're not by yourself, the younger Michael yelled back. "Grandpa's there."**

**Michael got out of the car and opened the door for Maria. "Come on! We'll go inside, too. It'll be alright."**

**Maria looked at Michael appreciatively. "Are you sure you're really him? You're so… different."**

**"You mean old?"**

**"Nooo… of course not… Anyway, you're only… what? …ten years older than Michael… our Michael… that Michael… you know what I mean. It's not that. It's just that you're just more, I don't know, gentle… kinder."**

**Michael smiled. "Well, don't let it get around. I've got my reputation you know."**

**"Okay, you are him," Maria laughed. "But you're still nicer."**

**Michael smiled. "The time I come from is actually eighteen years in your future, Maria."**

**"Oh. So that'd make you what… about thirty… four? I thought you were maybe twenty-five. You look a lot younger… Oh God! I don't mean that you're like, you know, old or anything. That's not what I meant. You're still young. I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"**

**Michael laughed. "No. I find it kind of endearing, actually."**

**Maria smiled. "Do you think you could do, you know, like, some kind of alien mind-meld thing like Spock does and make my Michael more like you?"**

**Michael grinned. Maria had called the younger Michael "her" Michael. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip. They hadn't known each other for very long yet. But something seemed to be there already.**

**"Are you married… you know, in the future," Maria asked.**

**"Yeah," Michael answered.**

**"Oh. Is she… nice?"**

**Michael smiled. "Very. And she's beautiful, and she's the most wonderful girl on all of Antar."**

**"Oh," Maria said softly, her smile fading without her realizing it. "You went back to your planet? Is that the planet you came from?" She swallowed hard but then managed a smile again. "That's nice. I'm… happy for you. Any kids?"**

**"Three. Zorel… He's nine. Kryys is seven, and Jayyd is six.**

**"Are they, like, aliens, too? Oh! Of course they are! I don't know why I asked that. Never mind me. I babble when I'm nervous."**

**"Don't be nervous," Michael said taking her hands in his. Maria felt a tingle go through her body, and her legs felt weak. She closed her eyes momentarily then opened them again. **

**The younger Michael, watching from the window of his motel room, frowned.**

**tbc**

**Coming next: "Aladdin's Palace"**


	13. Rath12

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Aladdin's Palace**

**Chapter 12**

**XII**

As Maria took Michael's hands, she suddenly felt weak in the legs. She turned loose of his hands, and Michael reached out to hold her so that she wouldn't collapse. 

**"Are you all right, Maria?"**

**"Yeah… yeah, I think so," Maria said.**

**"What happened?"**

**Maria shook her head, trying to regain her perspective.**

**"I saw something… in my head. It was like a flash of lights then planets or stars or something floating in space. It was beautiful. And something else…"**

**"Something else?"**

**"Yeah… only it wasn't a thing… It was more of a feeling."**

**"What kind of feeling?"**

**Maria looked straight into future Michael's eyes. "Your feelings. I felt your feelings about your wife. You love her very much."**

**Michael seemed surprised by Maria's revelation, but he nodded. "Yeah. I guess I do."**

**"She's a very lucky woman," Maria said. "…to have someone love her like that. If someone ever loved me like that, I'd…"**

**"You'd what?"**

**"I don't know. I can't even imagine it. Well, I can imagine, but…" She reached out and touched Michael's face gently with her hand. "Nobody will ever love me like that." She smiled and wiped her cheek.**

**"Come on," Michael said. "Let's go in. It's chilly out here, and it looks like my junior half has us a room."**

**Maria giggled. "Yeah. I saw him watching out the window."**

**Michael and Maria walked over to the motel room, and future Michael opened the door for her.**

**"That was locked," the younger Michael said.**

**"Would it have kept you out," future Michael asked with a grin.**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Well?"**

**The younger Michael didn't answer.**

**Maria looked around the room with her mouth open.**

**"It's like a porno version of Aladdin! It looks like Larry Flynt's dream house!"**

**"It's shelter," the younger Michael said.**

**"I'm not touching the sheets on those beds," Maria said, shaking her head. "You blew up my mom's Jetta, and now you expect me to spend the night in… in… Aladdin's Pleasure Palace with you?"**

**"Yeah, well, I'd rather be watching an opera on PBS myself," Michael said.**

**"You would?"**

**"Sure. That way at least I'd know that a whole lot of other people were suffering with me."**

**Maria ignored the comment. "What's so important about Marathon, Texas? They'll put you away, you know, when they catch you! There are laws…"**

**"You wouldn't understand, Maria. You don't understand anything about us," Michael said, turning away. "This could be the most important day of my life, and all you care…"**

**What do you mean, the most important day…?"**

**"Forget it."**

**"No. You said it. I want to know why it's so important. Convince me."**

**"See this place?" Michael showed Maria the picture in the flap of the book he was carrying. "It's the first real connection we've ever had to finding out where we came from, and it's in Marathon, Texas."**

**Maria looked at the picture in the book then at Michael. Something inside her understood. She wasn't about to say it… exactly… but she did have a strong feeling that she understood his motivation better than before. Michael, after all, did not know where his roots were or anything about his real people. Maria imagined that that must be painful for him. She nodded.**

**"Okay."**

**"Okay?"**

**So okay… we go to Marathon in the morning. Mom can only kill me once, right? She's gonna kill me already anyway."**

**"Logical," Michael said.**

**"Thank you, Mister Spock! You could show a little more concern, Michael! I'm going to be grounded till I'm too old to find real love, and you don't even care."**

**"I don't suppose we could share the bed…" Michael said.**

**"Not if you were the last alien on Earth."**

**Michael sighed and tossed a pillow onto the floor beside the bed. Then he looked at future Michael.**

**"So where are you sleeping, Grandpa?"**

**Future Michael took a pillow and put it on the armchair beside his younger counterpart.**

**"I'll sleep on the chair."**

**                            [center] ----------[/center]**

**Max and Isabel, traveling with Liz, had been following Michael and Maria since the earlier phone call Maria had made to Liz. For the last hour or more, they had been blocked by a tractor trailer rig that had jack-knifed in the highway. But as the night gave way to daybreak, Isabel noticed Maria's mom's Jetta just down the highway in front of the motel. The three drove around the crashed rig on the swale and pulled in at the motel. Max checked the office to see what room they were in. Liz quickly found the room and started to knock.**

**"Don't bother," Isabel said. She reached out and unlocked the door with her hand. Hearing the door opening, Maria leapt up from the bed and fell on top of the younger Michael on the floor, knocking future Michael's chair over at the same time. Future Michael, dumped out of his chair, landed on top of Maria and his younger self.**

**Liz stood in the door, her mouth open about as far as it would go.**

**"MARIA!" **

** Maria quickly extricated herself from the pile of bodies.**

**"No! No, Liz! Don't even think… I mean, that is so unreal! Omigod! Tell her, Michael!"**

**Michael smiled.**

**Maria gasped. "No, Liz! Don't even think it!"  
  
**

**"It's okay," Liz said. "I believe you, Maria. Now what in the world ARE you doing in this place with Michael?" **

**"What I want to know," Isabel said, stepping over to face the future Michael, "is… Who is this?" **

**"Hi," future Michael said, smiling sheepishly.**

**"Who are you," Max asked pointedly. **

**"He's Michael," Maria offered for him "…only from the future."**

**"The future?" Isabel echoed unbelievingly. "What future? How… where…"**

**"I'll tell you," future Michael said. "I'm from eighteen years in your future."**

**"Why are you here then," Max asked him.**

**"I… needed to find out some things… It's personal."**

**"We're taking it personal," Max said. "So tell us."**

**Michael winced slightly. "I've been going back in time to learn who I am."**

**"I thought you said you were Michael," Max said unamused.**

**"I am Michael. I'm just from your future."**

**"So tell me," the younger Michael said. "What are the lottery numbers going to be tomorrow?"**

**"Michael!" Isabel exclaimed. "We're being serious!"**

**"So am I," Michael said.**

**"I couldn't tell you if I knew," future Michael said. "And I don't." **

**"There you have it," the younger Michael said. "The man comes from the future and he won't even help me make us rich. I don't know why he bothered to come back. That's all the use he's been… a big, blank zero!"**

**"I told you. I came here to find myself."**

**"Yeah, sure…" the younger Michael said, shaking his head.**

**"No… No, Michael, I understand," Maria said. "He's you, right? You're looking for who you are. That's why you want to go to Marathon. And this Michael, in his future, is looking to find out the same thing, only on a more… I don't know… personal level, maybe. That's all. You want to know where you came from and who your people were… or are… Well, he wants to find out who he is inside, who the real Michael is, now that he knows where he came from and all."**

**Max, Liz, and Isabel all stood looking at Maria with their mouths open.**

**"What?"**

**"That was amazing," Liz said. "…what you just said."**

**"What," Maria asked, looking from person to person.**

**"You really do understand us, don't you," Isabel said.**

**The younger Michael nodded, with a shocked look on his face. "I guess you understand more than I gave you credit for, DeLuca."**

**"Michael! Was what I just heard an apology," Isabel asked. "Because if it was, I'm not sure I can take all this shock in one day."**

**Michael didn't answer.**

**Max walked over and faced future Michael. "If you are from the future, you can tell us what we're going to Marathon to find out. You must already know the answers."**

**The younger Michael looked up suddenly at Max. Hearing Max admit that he, too, wanted to find out the secrets that Marathon might hold somehow gave him a good feeling inside. Then he looked at his future self to see what he would say.**

**"I'm not sure how much I should tell you," future Michael said at end. "It's probably important that you go to Marathon. I mean, it happened that way before, and if I change too many things like that…"**

**Max nodded and held his hand up. "I understand. You could change the future as you know it. Is there anything you can tell us… about ourselves… about our people?"**

**Michael thought about it. "Well, just that everything will work out in the end. Don't ever give up, Max… you either, Michael… Isabel. Sometimes it will seem like giving up is all that's left to do, but never quit. Never give up hope. From where I stand, everything will work out just fine."**

**"That's good to know," Isabel said. "We're not quitters."**

**"I know," future Michael said with a smile. "You never gave up on me." **

**Max and Isabel both smiled.**

**"Our people are a very fine people," future Michael said. "They're not so very different than the people here on Earth. We all share the same goals, the same feelings, loves, desires, pains… You will find them one day. That's all I can tell you." **

**"That's enough," the younger Michael said. "I take back what I said about you being useless, man. You've been a big help."**

**"Oh, be still my heart," Isabel said dramatically. "I don't think I can take any more."**

**"I may keep it up just to see you fall over," the younger Michael said to Isabel with a coy grin.**

**Liz looked at Maria and noticed that she was crying silently, tears streaming down her face. She touched Maria's face gently with her hand and carefully wiped off the tears. "What's the matter, chica? Huh? Why are you so sad?"**

**Maria smiled. "It's nothing, Liz."**

**"I know nothing when I see it, Maria, and this isn't nothing. Now come on. Tell me."**

**"I just know something I wish I didn't know."**

**Future Michael suddenly realized that Maria's knowing he was married but not knowing it was to her was upsetting to her. She actually cared for him. He had never realized that she actually cared this early on in their relationship. It was probable that she hadn't even realized it herself. This put a new light on everything. He started to tell her but thought about it and decided to consider all the ramifications and consequences first. **

**Maria solved the problem for him…**

**"I know how it turns out for you, Michael," Maria said to future Michael. "I just wish…" she choked up then reached up and kissed him quickly on the lips before he realized what was happening. **

**[b]Flash![/b]**

**[i] Michael ****pulled Maria tightly against his body and felt her soft hair against his face, smelled her perfume, felt her lips pressed to his… **

**"Maria, hold out your hand," he said. Then he got down on his knee in front of her, held her hand in his, and asked,**

**"Maria, will you marry me? Will you be my wife when we get to Antar?"**

**"Yes! …Yes, Michael! You're the only one I ever wanted or ever will want to marry," she heard herself reply happily. **

**Michael turned Maria's hand over and placed something in it. She opened her hand to look. It was a rock… No, it was a large uncut diamond.**

**"Michael!" Maria gasped, "Where did you get this?"**

**"I spotted it among those outcrops back there and picked it up as we were walking here. I'll always remember this little moon, Maria! It will always be where I found two of my greatest treasures... where you said that you would marry me and where I found this diamond that I give to you for your ring.[/i]******

**[b]Flash![/b]  **

**[i] ****Michael had just returned from the jeweler with Maria's diamond… beautifully faceted and mounted in a ring that was absolutely and utterly breathtaking. Maria had no idea how many carats it was; she only knew that it was beautiful… and big! Michael placed it on her finger… it fit perfectly. As he did, he again asked, "Maria, will you be my wife?"**

**Maria didn't answer… she just threw her arms around Michael's neck and kissed him as though she would never let him go.**

**"I take it, the answer is still yes, then," Michael managed somehow to say after a couple of minutes.**

**"Yes! Yes! Yes! A million times, yes!" said Maria. She beamed, and again she kissed Michael passionately. He reciprocated happily.**

**"We'll have to set a date," said Michael at end. I was thinking maybe next month… it's the beginning of the summer in Antar, and well… because you warm my heart…"**

**"Aw… Michael, sometimes you can be such a sweet puppy dog… so cute and lovable," said Maria.**

**"Well, just do me a favor and let's keep that to ourselves, okay, Maria? I wouldn't want it getting out that I'm a cute little puppy or something! Reputations, you know!"**

**Maria giggled, "Sure, Michael, just between me and my cute little puppy!"[/i]******

**[b]Flash![/b]**

**[i] ****Maria found Liz in the palace living room… on Antar. She walked by her several times, holding her hand slightly out away from her body. Liz saw the ring, but at first pretended not to.**

**"Maria, you seem awfully wound up! Why don't you sit down and stop pacing! Is something wrong with your hand?"**

**"Hmm! Hmm!" Said Maria, holding her finger and the amazing ring out where it could be appreciated.**

**"Mariiiiaaa…" said Liz, "That's beautiful… it's gorgeous! So Michael got it mounted… that's the ring from the moon?"**

**"Yep."**

**"You must be absolutely thrilled!"**

**"Well… maybe a little happy… Oh, of course I'm thrilled! What do you think! Liz, I can't wait to show it to everybody! They're gonna freak! Have you ever seen anything like it?"[/i]**

**[b]Flash[/b]**

**[i] ****Maria's hand was on Jim Valenti's arm. She was dressed in a long white and light blue gown that just reached the floor. She was too beautiful for words. Slowly, Jim led her down the aisle to the front. Maria's face seemed to glow. Her Mom, Amy, was wiping tears from her own eyes with a handkerchief and trying bravely but unsuccessfully not to cry… it was all so beautiful! This was far and away beyond anything she had ever imagined for her daughter even in her grandest dreams.**

**Behind Maria and Jim Valenti came the bridesmaids… then, from the back of the SyyKolyva, a man entered wearing a long dark blue robe over a red vest. The robe had gold trim around the collar and around the wrists. The man had a gold sash trimmed in red hung loosely over his left shoulder. This was the Jalesek, who would be performing the ceremony.**

**The music stopped, and all eyes were on Maria and Michael. The Jalesek took a small book from his vest pocket and looked at it quietly for a moment.**

**"Michael Guerin (He spoke in Antarian), of the line of Varkor Sarvael, you have come here today to tell all those present and the world that you love and cherish this girl, Maria DeLuca, and that it is your wish and desire that she be your wife now and for as long as you both shall live. Do you profess to Maria your eternal undying love; and is this your wish, Michael?"**

**"It is!"**

**"Maria DeLuca, of the planet Eluymer, you have come here today to tell all those present and the world that you love and cherish Michael Guerin and that it is your wish and desire to take him as your husband now and for as long as you both shall live. Do you, Maria, profess to Michael your eternal undying love; and is this your wish, Maria?"**

**"It is!"**

**"And who gives this girl away?"**

**"I do," said Jim Valenti. He took Maria's hand from his arm and placed it on Michael's arm and took Maria's other hand and placed it in front of her with the palm up. Then he took Michael's other hand and placed it on top of Maria's.**

**"Then," continued the Jalesek, "How shall you show this love that the two of you share?"**

**Michael and Maria closed their hands, intertwining their fingers together.**

**"Then I say for all to know that Michael and Maria are joined together as mates of the soul and of the body for the rest of their lives… May they know only happiness and joy forever!"**

**The entire SyyKolyva stood and applauded briefly but enthusiastically, in the Antarian tradition. Then they took their seats again. **

**The music resumed, and Michael and Maria walked arm in arm back down the aisle to the foyer as Michael and Maria Guerin.[/i]**

**[b]Flash![/b]******

**[i] Some lady was holding up a blouse for Maria's approval.**

**"Is this darling or what?"**

**"I approve," said Maria. "Very chic!"**

**"I just wish I could find one in a pastel green instead of this bright green, but it's still too darling to pass up."**

**Maria grinned, "Jayyd, honey? Would you mind?"**

**Jayyd grinned from ear to ear and waved her hand. The blouse changed color.**

**"Better!" said the lady, "Much better!" Can you make it just a little lighter, Dear?"**

**Jayyd waved her hand again, and the color changed slightly.**

**"Oh! That's perfect!" said the lady. "That's exactly what I've been looking for!"**

**Jayyd was grinning. She loved nothing better than using her power and getting praised for it!**

**Zorel rubbed Jayyd lightly on top of the head and smiled,**

**"If you can use my services, Mom…"**

**Maria and the other lady both laughed, "Thanks, Zorel! We'll keep that in mind, Honey… but right now, I don't think that any of the clothes would be helped by power blasting!"**

**"Except maybe that one," snickered the other lady, pointing to a ridiculous fluffy tutu-like culotte that no Antarian or Earthling -well, maybe except Howard Stern posing for a Hooters billboard- would be caught dead or alive in.**

**Zorel started to lift his hand, but Maria was too quick, after eight years of experience, and stopped his hand before he got it up.**

**"She was kidding, Zorel!"**

**"Oh."[/i]**

**                                  [center]----------[/center]**

**Maria pulled away from Michael the moment she kissed him. Everything that she had just seen was transferred to her brain in less than a second. And yet she remembered… everything! She stood there at first, shaking, her mouth open in utter amazement and awe. Then, slowly, she began to smile.**

**Future Michael looked at Maria. "That wasn't supposed to happen, Maria. I don't know what consequences this could have for the future."**

**"How could it be bad to know," Maria asked, smiling. "I'll get over the shock."**

**"What did you see, Maria," Isabel asked. **

**Future Michael shook his head, and Max cautioned her, "It might be better if we don't know, Iz… If Michael from the future thinks it's better not to tell us, we should listen to him."**

**Isabel frowned. "You're no fun, Max. I can't stand secrets… when someone else is keeping them."**

**"Yeah, that's what I know," Max said. **

**Max looked out the window. Kyle was driving up to the motel. He had probably seen the jeep and Maria's mom's Jetta. It would be a while before he found out what room they were in, but not long enough.**

**"Kyle's coming," he said to the others. **

**Future Michael looked out the window. "I really have to be going." He looked at Maria. Maria smiled. Michael took her face in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. As he did, he quietly placed a block on the memories of the flashes she had just seen… and the fact that he had said he was married. **

**"Good bye," he said, and he called for the portal. A light appeared, and Michael stepped into it, as Max, Liz, Isabel, and his younger self watched in awe. Then he was gone.**

**Kyle burst in just as Michael had left, wanting to know what was going on. When he became insistent on dragging Liz away, the younger Michael threw him across the room and shoved him out the door.**

**"I don't know you," Kyle said to Liz. "Whatever you're mixed up in with these people… I don't know you anymore, Liz Parker."**

**Michael shut the door behind him.**

**"So, Maria…" Isabel started, "What was all that about?"**

**"What was all what about?"**

**"You know… the secret you and future Michael know."**

**Maria looked perplexed. "Secret? What secret?"**

**Max smiled. "Too bad, Iz! It looks like Michael took his secrets with him."**

**Isabel frowned. "Damn! How's a girl to ever find things out? Just my bad luck!"**

**The younger Michael smiled at Maria, and Maria smiled back. Isabel noticed.**

**"Who knows, Michael… You and Maria may wind up together some day… married."**

**"Not if she were the last girl on Earth!" Michael said.**

**"I have to agree with Michael on that one," Maria said. "For once, he's a hundred percent right." She held out her hand, and Michael slapped it as a gesture of his agreement. As his hand touched Maria's, Maria collapsed. Michael caught her.**

**"What happened? Sheez! I didn't hit your hand that hard?"**

**Maria looked at Michael, and a smile slowly crept from ear to ear. Then she kissed him on the lips, passionately, leaving Michael, Isabel, Max, and Liz all with their eyes wide and mouths open.**

**"What was that for," Michael asked, smiling in spite of himself.**

**"Nothing," Maria said. "Let's just say it's for the memories."**

**tbc**


	14. Rath13

The Four Faces of Rath 

**"Heat Wave"**

**Chapter 13**

**XIII**

Speaking directly to us, the readers, Liz smiles and says… "So future Michael put this block on Maria's memories before he left so that she wouldn't remember the flashes she had received from him. Then he blocked her memory of him telling her that he was married, too, so that she wouldn't think that she and Michael didn't have a chance. From future Michael's perspective, that was probably the smart thing to do. It guaranteed that those memories wouldn't somehow affect his future… the future he knew. But when our Michael slapped Maria's hand, his energy released future Michael's blocks… or some of them at least… and he didn't even know what he had done. But Maria did. Hmmm… I don't know if her touching Michael's hand released all the blocks or just some of them, but that kiss she gave him… Omigod, if that didn't set a fire to any memory blocks left… and make some new memories, too, I don't know what ever would! It sure sent a heat wave through the room. If you'll excuse me, I've got to go outside and cool off. I think Max is using the shower. And Isabel… well, she's still standing there with her mouth open. Poor Isabel. Too many shocks in one day… and then that kiss! I think she's having a meltdown!" 

**tbc**


	15. Rath14

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Multiple Exposures**

**Chapter 14**

**XIV**

Kyle answered the door of the royal palace. It was Maria… and with her were Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd.

**"Hi, Kyle! Is Liz here?"**

**"I think she's available for you, Maria," Kyle said with a smile. "Hold on. I'll go get her. Make yourself at home."**

**Maria walked into the foyer and sat down on the oversized Antarian sofa, spreading her legs out comfortably. Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd ran to the gardens, one of their favorite places to play.**

**"Maria," Liz exclaimed, walking into the room a few minutes later. "How are you? Don't bother to get up. I saw Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd heading for the gardens. I imagine you need the rest."**

**"You're a saint, Liz," Maria said, sighing. "I love this big, soft sofa! But if it was in my house, no work would ever get done!"**

**Liz laughed. "How's Michael's trip going?" **

**Maria smiled and took out the sphere of visions she was carrying in her purse…**

**"So far, he hasn't changed the future… we're all still here. Oh, and he's only let one other girl kiss him while he was away… and she was me." Maria slapped herself a couple of times, and she and Liz both laughed.**

**"Where's Michael now," Liz asked.**

**"Well, that's the question," Maria said. "I'm not sure."**

**"You're not sure?"**

**"No. The sphere of visions can't always see things that are not in its own time."**

**"Yeah, I know," Liz said. "That's one of the problems we had when the kids were missing." **

**"So far, I've been able to see Michael," Maria continued, "but now… the sphere can't find him, and I'm not sure where he is." **

**"I'm sure he's okay, Maria. It's got to be simply a time… continuum… thing or something."**

**"Yeah, that's what I thought. But I was wondering if we could use the sphere of the portal and maybe just, you know, check on him, you and me…"**

**Liz grinned. "Ooh!" She thought about it a moment then smiled again… "That sounds like it could be a lot of fun, Maria! Yeah! We could do that! I wonder though…"**

**"What?"**

**"Yeah, why not! The palace staff can watch our kids… and Max will be here, too. Sure! We can do it!"**

**Maria grinned from ear to ear. "You know what, Liz?"**

**"What?"**

**"I'm really glad you're my best friend!"**

**Liz smiled and hugged Maria. "Yeah, me too! I can't imagine anyone else being my best friend but you, Maria!"**

**Liz hurried to inform Kyle and other staff personnel of her plans to leave for a short time, then she and Maria hugged their kids, and Liz called for the portal, asking it to take her and Maria to Michael. The portal opened, and Liz and Maria stepped through hand in hand. **

**The scene that met them left them both stunned. ****Michael appeared to be fighting with himself. Both Michaels were rolling on the desert sand. A third Michael was leaning against Max's jeep with a smile on his face. And there were two Maxes! Liz counted them again! Two! On top of everything else, Liz and Maria's younger halves were there. **

**Assessing the scene, Liz and Maria realized that two of those present were the Max and Michael who came back from Antar years before to save them and take them to Antar. The other two were the original Max and Michael who lived here. And the Michael leaning on the jeep, laughing… well, that could only be Maria's Michael. **

**One of the Maxes was yelling at the two who were fighting… "Hey! Hey, guys! Stop it!"**

**"I'd stick you in an old folks' home and be done with you," said the seventeen-year-old Michael to the one he was fighting with.**

**"Yeah, well I'd turn you over to the sheriff for being a smart-assed punk," the other Michael retorted. **

**Liz and Maria couldn't tell which one was which as they tumbled.**

**"Stop! Stop! You can't do this," one of the two Maxes pleaded, beside himself now. "This is not going to work! We have a mission, Michael!"**

**After a short time, the two Michaels stood up and brushed themselves off. They were laughing and slapping each other on the back. Max was perplexed… then red-faced.**

**"I told you I would get you back, Max, for leaving me to explain to Maria and… and to this guy (He indicated his younger self) all by myself how it is that there are two of us!  You said there would only be one of each of us… We were supposed to appear in our other bodies… instantly 'upgraded,' you said." Well, I wasn't expecting to come face to face with this guy! It took a lot of explaining! And poor Maria! So to let you know how much we appreciated that, we cooked up this little show for you… to get even."**

**For a moment, Max didn't say a word. Then he said,**

**"Michael, you'll never change! I can't even tell which one of you is the old fart and which one is the young punk!"**

**Everybody laughed.**

**The seventeen-year-old Liz walked over to Max and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his sculpted chest and stomach muscles. She did the same to the other Max. Then she ran one hand over each of their chests and looked over at Maria…**

**"I don't know, Maria… I think this could be fun!"**

**Her friend Maria's lower jaw fell about three inches.**

**"Kinky, you mean!" Then she looked at the three Michaels…**

**"But on the other hand, Liz, I can see your point!"**

**At this point, Liz and Maria from Antar decided that it was time they stepped in.**

**"Girls! Girls! Let's not be greedy. There's enough here to go around it looks like," Liz said to their younger selves.**

**"Who are you," seventeen-year-old Maria asked, her mouth open with surprise.**

**"I think you already know," Maria answered her younger self. "I'm you." She turned to Max… "New and updated, Max? What was that all about?" **

**Max grinned sheepishly and turned slightly red. "I made a mistake. I thought when Michael and I came back to the past that there would still be only one of each of us… we would just be… you know… ourselves here… sort of new and upgraded. It looks like I was wrong. The question I have is where did you two come from? You don't exist in the future that Michael and I just came from… not yet anyway."**

**The third Michael, leaning on the jeep, walked over and put his arms over the shoulders of the other two Michaels. "You see, Maria, these guys are Max and me when we came back the first time to save you and Liz… and the other two are… well… the originals."**

**Maria and Liz had already figured that out. They had been here, after all, when it all happened the first time… as their younger selves. Maria from Antar walked over and took the seventeen-year-old Michael by the arm. "Come on, Michael, let's go home."**

**Michael who had been leaning against the jeep watched, at first amused, then somewhat unsure… "Wait a minute, Maria… That's… That's not me."**

**"Of course not," Maria said. "This is my Michael."**

**"No, he's not! I'm your Michael!"**

**"Come on now! You said this was the original, right?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Well, I don't take no knock-offs. I only accept the gosh-darn real original."**

**"That's not what I meant," Michael said. Maria grinned… then started to laugh. Then everyone started to laugh.**

**Liz from Antar looked at the two Maxes with their shirts open… "Well, as long as we're shopping, Maria, can I take one of these home? My younger self here wouldn't know what to do with two of them."**

**Maria's jaw dropped… "Liz! You are bad, girl!" **

**"Speak for yourself," the seventeen-year-old Liz said to her future counterpart. "I have a great imagination!"**

**"Liz!" exclaimed seventeen-year-old Maria.**

**Both Lizzes laughed and winked at each other.**

**"I'm getting a headache," Michael of Antar said, leaning against the jeep again.**

**"Come on, honey," Maria said, releasing the younger Michael and taking her Michael by the hand. "I've got something at home that will cure that."**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: "Reflections"**


	16. Rath15

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Reflections**

**Chapter 15**

**XV**

Michael stepped out of the portal with Maria and Liz into the palace reception area. As they passed a large mirror on the wall, he stopped and looked at his reflection for a moment. Without a word, he turned the mirror backwards to the wall and continued into the foyer. Maria gave him a little push, and he plopped onto the oversized Antarian sofa. She sat down beside him and threw her legs over his, resting her head against the plush armrest, then she reached up with one hand to rub Michael's shoulders and back.

**"You trying to pin me down to keep me here," Michael asked with a slight smile.**

**"If that's what it takes," Maria said.**

**"Well, you know I still have one place I have to go."**

**Maria frowned. "I know. But I don't like it. And I know you don't look forward to it either."**

**Michael shook his head. "No, I don't… but I have to go… It's drawing me there."**

**"You don't have to do it if you don't want to, Michael."**

**"Yes, I do," Michael insisted. "I do! It's more than just finding out who I am… I don't know why yet, but it is."**

**Maria gave Michael that little pouting look.**

**"Well, maybe I don't have to go right now… right this moment," Michael said. "It could be tomorrow… or the next day."**

**Maria smiled a little. "That should give us time, I guess."**

**"For what?"**

**"For me to cure your headache."**

**Michael smiled. **

**As they were talking, Liz walked back into the room with Max at her side and a glass of Cherry Cola for each of the "guests." **

**"Hey, Michael! How goes the search… and what's with the mirror," Max asked, noticing the mirror turned to the wall behind Michael.**

**Michael grinned. "I thought I'd seen enough of my face for a while, Max. Do you know what it's like having three of me running around all at once… all with my face?"**

**"I thought it was adorable," Maria said, squeezing Michael's face and shaking it playfully with one hand."**

**"Well, I'm happy enough to only see one of me in the mirror each morning, thank you," Michael said. "I think I learned some things, Max. Of course… I still haven't faced my biggest demons…"**

**"Rath? And Kivar?"**

**"Yeah… and all that that lifetime meant… you know?"**

**"So what did you find out on Earth?"**

**Michael breathed out a sigh. "I've always wondered, I don't know, if maybe I was supposed to be more like Rath and maybe would have been except for how I grew up… you know… with Hank and all."**

**Max looked at him questioningly.**

**"Yeah, well, you see, Max, when you and Isabel and I were found out in the desert when we were six, you and Isabel went to live with the Evanses. They treated you decent, and you grew up with… you know… nothing negative pressing on your mind… keeping you from being whoever you were supposed to be. But I grew up with Hank. Not exactly the social butterfly of Roswell… You know what I mean?"**

**"Yeah, I get your drift. But how would that keep you from being who you were supposed to be?"**

**"That's what I had to find out, Max… did it keep me from being the Rath that I once was? And is that who I really am but just don't know it because that part of me was repressed or something by Hank… maybe still is? I don't want to do anything someday and hurt Maria or something because I'm not who I… who she thought I was."**

**Maria gave him a gentle poke on the arm. "You would never hurt me, Michael. You may not know it, but I do."**

**Michael smiled slightly.**

**"Repressed how," Max asked.**

**"Well… Wouldn't it just be a bitch, Max, if the only reason I'm not an exact copy of Rath is because of Hank… if I found out I actually owed Hank some kind of debt for treating me bad… repressing the fierceness of Rath by abusing me the way he did?"**

**"Did you come to any conclusions after seeing Hank again?"**

**"Yeah. I don't think Hank made me who I am."**

**"Well, I'd say that's definitely a good thing, Michael," Liz said.**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah, it is. Hank abused me, and I didn't even realize it was abuse till I was older… but the feelings I had… the way I reacted… was always me. It was just me. Whoever 'me' is. It was never Hank that made me feel that way. Maybe he made me stronger… gave me an edge or something… but he didn't change who I was… you know, inside. The part of me that he affected was all on the surface. Hank made me frustrated, angry, hurt… all those things sometimes, but he didn't make me who I am. Something else did that. I realized it when I watched that little boy… me… in Hank's trailer. I had to see it from a different perspective. No matter how much Hank pushed him around or abused him, that kid still had spunk."**

**"How do you figure?"**

**"Well, he could have caved, you know… become a total basket case or, worse, become a copy of Hank to survive. But he didn't. He never cried. He never showed any emotion. It made Hank furious. Hank never could get to him… He could hit him, beat him, belittle him… but it was like spitting into the wind… It always just flew back and stuck to him.**

**Max nodded. "We're glad Hank couldn't make you into a copy of himself."**

**Liz nodded her agreement. "Michael, we always knew you weren't anything like Hank. You might have been different in some ways, but not like Hank. And I agree that Hank didn't make you who you are."**

**"Yeah, I was different. I cut my hair different, I skipped school all the time, I got into trouble…"**

**"And you were a hell of an artist," Maria reminded him. "I don't think you got that from Hank or Rath."**

**"That's true," Michael said. "I didn't get that from them. Hank couldn't draw a stick man without a picture to copy it from… and Rath… I don't remember Rath ever being artistic. He was a soldier… like me."**

**"But you're a soldier with a heart," Liz said.**

**"Well, Rath had a heart, too," Michael replied. "It was just more hardened. I think he had seen too much killing… too much pain. But he was always loyal… He was loyal to the very end."**

**"And you haven't seen pain and killing, Michael?" Max asked him.**

**"Well, yeah… I've seen some things and been through some stuff, you know, but maybe not like Rath. I don't know."**

**Max nodded and smiled. "So now you know that you don't owe Hank any kind of debt for making you not turn out as a carbon copy of Rath, and you know that Hank failed to make you into a carbon copy of himself or make you who you are. What about the other timelines you visited?"**

**Michael nodded. "I wanted to see if maybe my deprived childhood was a factor in who the real me is… not Hank directly, but indirectly, you know. I saw Maria, Kyle, and Alex at Liz's party when she was six, and at first I felt hurt. I mean… how could Hank's kid from the trailer park know someone like Liz Parker? But then I realized that it didn't matter, because Max and I got you and Maria in the end… We were the real winners."**

**Maria smiled and kissed Michael on the lips. Max took advantage of the break in talk to kiss Liz at the same time. "Michael's right, you know, Liz. I am a winner," he said, as their lips finally parted.**

**Liz smiled and kissed him again.**

**"I watched my younger self in the CrashDown and in the Jetta… and then at the motel… and in the desert, and the only thing I could think of was that I was glad that I've changed since then. He was me, but he was too rude to Maria sometimes… and also… I don't know… too immature."**

**Max laughed out loud, and Liz and Maria both grinned.**

**"But the important thing was that he wasn't a copy of Hank…" Michael continued. "…or anything like Hank, and he didn't seem to be 'repressed.' Whoever he was inside, Hank hadn't been able to extinguish his spirit."**

**"I can attest to that, Michael," Max said. **

**"So there you have it, Max. I guess you think it's kind of stupid… I mean… you don't need to go lookin' for who you are…"**

**Max shook his head. "No, Michael, it's not stupid! You may have to find out for yourself what the rest of us all think we already know about you, but you've been nothing if not a good and fast friend to me and to Liz and to everyone on Antar. The scientists named you, "Father of Antarian Science" for your work in rescuing them and rebuilding Antar's Linked Science Lab network…"**

**Michael laughed. "Yeah, I should have taken that certificate and medal back with me and shown it to Mister Bergen, our science teacher at Roswell High. Wouldn't that be a kicker! He failed me in science!"**

**"You worked tirelessly to rescue all those children not so long ago. Kiraugo loves you like a father."**

**Michael smiled in spite of himself and nodded.**

**"Who else would have rescued all those Dragon children, Michael? The Dragons were our enemy. Now they're our friends and allies. You had a lot to do with that."**

**"Okay, Max, I get your point. So I'm sometimes Mister Good Guy." He shook his head. "I guess I realized that, too, in a way, back on Earth. Now I just have to face Rath… and my first life." **

**"Why," Max asked. "If you found out that you're not a copy of Rath or of Hank… and that Hank didn't make you who you are, what's left to find out?"**

**Michael looked at his reflection in the glass he was holding, and he pointed it out to Max. "Look at the glass, Max. What do you see? How much of Rath do you think is in me? Am I Rath… just with different life experiences, but with the same potential to become… what Rath became? And would it be wrong if I did? Maybe Rath is who I'm supposed to be… not the Michael that you know. Am I going to change some day because of some genetic link to a past I barely remember?" Michael took a couple of swallows from the glass, and he and Max looked at it again. It was still Michael's face, but it looked different now. With the glass only half full, the face that looked back at them appeared to be split in the middle. "Don't forget the dreams, Max. Those dreams were real. They were telling us something."**

**Max turned visibly pale. Deep inside, he had the same gut feeling…**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: "A Storm in the River of Time" **


	17. Rath16

The Four Faces of Rath 

**A Storm in the River of Time**

**Chapter 16**

**XVI**

**"Master, look at the river."**

**"Yes, Kryys. There is something about to happen… like a storm brewing in time.**

**"Is Antar in danger, Master Drax?" **

**The Drax-ta-kiya was silent for a few moments. "Antar will be Antar, 'sun drop.' It will be whatever it is meant to be, as will we. What do you see in the river, sun drop?"**

**"I see… confusion… the eddies of time are becoming juxtaposed on top of one another. It is… as though a great storm is coming." **

**"Yes. That is what I see, too."**

**                                [center]----------[/center]**

**:::::::"Many Antarians have no powers… many others do," Maria explains, reminding us of how Kryys came to be where he is. "Until Kryys was almost six, he had no powers that we knew of. Then in a time of great need, he saved Jayyd's life. He literally brought Jayyd back from the dead and healed her after Agent Zwolinski… Excuse me." Maria wipes a tear from her eyes then continues… "After Zwolinski shot her with a machine gun, almost tearing her little body in half. There was nothing Max could do to save her, and even the amazing healing waters from the island of the jah-ee couldn't help. So we were in awe when Kryys suddenly turned into a million tiny, fiery particles and swirled through Jayyd's damaged body, mending it one molecule at a time. We later learned that Kryys was to be even more –much, much more- than we had ever suspected. The Drax-ta-kiya of Jeroglasst took Kryys under his wing as his protégé. When Kryys is with the Drax-ta-kiya in the river of time, he is ageless and wise as the eternal span of time; but when he returns, he's just our Kryys again. He barely remembers what happened in the river of time, and he's like any other seven-year-old. Here… the best way to explain it is just to show you. Let's go back to a little over a year ago."  **

**Maria motions, and we follow her into her memories of the not-too-distant past:**

**[i][The Drax-ta-Kiya knew that the time had arrived. The river of time told him so… Not with words, as we know them, but it spoke all the same. The Drax-ta-kiya had only to feel the eddies and currents at the edge of the river. Each one had its own special motion… its own particular dance in the stream. They were different today. Some time during the night they had changed. It was nothing that most beings would notice. Most beings were not even aware of the river of time, much less of some small change in an eddy or current. But the Drax-ta-kiya wasn't most beings.**

**The old man stepped out onto the front porch of his house on Jeroglasst and stood with his face toward the beautiful valley below. His white, pupiless eyes saw nothing, but he saw everything. A smile appeared on his face, as the morning sun warmed him. Looking toward the sky, the Drax-ta-kiya spread his arms, and his body began to shimmer. At first, it looked as though his clothes were being whipped by the wind as the sunshine danced on them. But then the "sunshine" began to spread out, as streams of bright light -billions of tiny molecules- escaped from his body into the air then into the sky above, leaving the place where he had stood only moments before empty.**

**On Antar, there was another who felt the change. Though only six years old, he felt the knowledge of the ages at times… times when he would allow himself to also join the stream, not as a mortal, but as an eternal. He had learned what few in the universe knew… how to transform his mortal body into a stream of immortal molecules and join the eternal river. **

**Kryys Guerin had changed during the night. He had somehow become six again as he slept. He no longer remembered being fifty-three. He no longer remembered being the President of future Earth, "Alyendis." He no longer remembered the events of his other childhood, growing up alone as an orphan, learning to live on his own, struggling to make a life for himself. He only knew that he wanted to play hide and seek with his best friends, Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx Evans and his sister, Jayyd, and brother, Zorel.**

**Even at the age of six, Kryys had been more than six. Now, as he played hide and seek with his brother, his sister, and their friends, Kryys felt something… something in the stream… something in the wind. The feeling that he was being "called" grew stronger and stronger. Finally, Kryys answered the call. He didn't think about it. He didn't debate it. He didn't wonder about it. He just answered it… as naturally as answering his mother's call to come and eat. Kryys began to change. First, his hair and clothes seemed to wave in the wind, then the sunlight appeared to sparkle on him, then he seemed to come apart, as streams and streams of molecules made their way into the atmosphere above Antar to join the eternal river of time that flows through the universe.**

**As Kryys joined the river and flowed with it, he was met by the one who had called him…**

**"Kryys. I am happy to see you. I knew that you would come."**

**"Yes, Master. I have much to learn."**

**"And I shall teach you. Your powers are great. There is no other in the universe with the potential that you possess. I have known this for a hundred years. You are the one."**

**"I am only six, Master."**

**"The river is time, Kryys. In it, there is no beginning… There is no end… There just is. I have seen you here. Now it is time for you to learn and to fulfill the potential that was given to you."**

**"I understand, Master. I wish to learn."**

**"Yes… You are everything I believed you to be, Kryys! Your power is enormous… And your being is pure. You will use it well."**

**"Thank you, Master. When shall I begin?"**

**"You already have, little sun drop. You are learning even as we speak."**

**"Master, will I one day again become the President of Alyendis? Will I meet the girl who would become my wife again? Will my child be born?"**

**"You see, sun drop? You thought that you were only six, but you remember them. In the river, everything is revealed. You have only to open your eyes. Look! What do you see?"**

**Kryys looked into the river, and he smiled. It wasn't a corporeal smile, for indeed he had no face, no body, no hands or feet, no mouth to speak with… but he was speaking… and he smiled.**

**"Do you see, sun drop?"**

**"Yes, Master, I see."**

**"Excellent! Return home now, Kryys. I will call for you again. Each day, you must learn something."**

**"Thank you, Master. It is a great honor to be taught by you."**

**Kryys reappeared slowly behind the tree.**

**In the river, the caller drifted on, then he, too, began to rematerialize. Soon, he was once again standing on his porch overlooking the beautiful valley below. He held his face up to the sunlight…**

**"No, Kryys… It is I who am honored… to teach the one whom you will become."] [/i]**

**                                [center]----------[/center]**

**Now the Drax-ta-kiya again waded the river of time with Kryys at his side.**

**"You must be prepared, little sun drop."**

**"For what, Master?"**

**"You will know when it comes. Then you must act quickly. If you do not, the river could be permanently changed… enough to alter that which is."**

**"I understand, Master Drax. I will be alert."**

**The Drax-ta-kiya smiled. "Yes. I know you will, sun drop. I have seen it all in the river. You are very special."**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: "The Age of Rath"**

**Be here! Meet the real Rath… up close and personal!**


	18. Rath17

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Age of Rath**

**Chapter 17**

**XVII**

**Michael awoke refreshed, feeling ready to face whatever the future might hold for him. He found Maria in the living room of their home in the Antarian countryside rearranging some small decorative items on a shelf, and he put his arms around her, pulling her close. "I've been thinking, honey… If you don't think I should do this… if you want me to stay here… well, I think I can live with that. I've got you to help me get over any doubts I might have. Maybe I still feel like there's something more to find out, but I know you can help me cope with that, because the most important things in my life are the things I've already got… you… our kids… and our friends here on Antar."**

**Maria smiled from ear to ear. "Do you mean, that, Michael? You'd really stay here… for me? Michael, I… I don't know if I can take that away from you."**

**"You wouldn't be taking, Maria. All you've ever done is give to my life… You've given it meaning… you've given it happiness… you've given it purpose… What more can I ask you to give?"**

**Maria smiled again and kissed Michael. As their lips touched, she saw stars in a beautiful blue sky. And she could clearly feel the warmth and love that were coming from Michael's heart. Then, suddenly, something struck her with the force of a cannon ball, knocking her violently away from Michael… something very powerful… and dark. **

**"Maria! What happened," Michael exclaimed, rushing to her side.**

**"I don't know, Michael! I started to see stars and things like I always do when we kiss, and then it all changed into… something different… something dark and angry. Then I felt like I was being repelled. It felt like I was hit by a lightning bolt."**

**"I didn't mean to, Maria! I don't know what happened! I swear it!"**

**"I know, Michael. It wasn't you. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't you."**

**"Are you sure you're alright, Maria?"**

**"Yeah… I'm fine, just a little shaken. I'll be okay, really."**

**"I'm… I'm so sorry, Maria!"**

**"Michael, you don't owe me any apology. It wasn't you. Stop blaming yourself! It was just a freak thing."**

**"Yeah, me! I'm the freak!"**

**"No, Michael! You're not! You're a loving, caring, warm, wonderful man, and any girl would be lucky to have you!"**

**Michael shook his head. "No, Maria! Hank was right! I'm a freak!"**

**"Michael, I'll show you that you're worrying about nothing. Kiss me again." As Maria's lips started to touch Michael's, Michael's eyes suddenly sparked with an angry fierceness that Maria had never seen before, and he shouted at her in a clearly threatening tone…**

**"Ja-Stak a'il dak Krat-ax-an!"**

**Maria backed away quickly. She wasn't totally sure that she had heard what she had just heard, but her Antarian was fairly fluent after having lived on Antar for almost ten years and raising children there, and it sounded like Michael had just used an older Antarian vulgarity that translated, roughly, as, "Get out of my face, bitch!"**

**Maria stared at Michael with shock and great fear in her eyes… for him more than for herself.**

**"What… what was that, Michael?"**

**Michael's eyes returned to their normal shade, and his face softened.**

**"What did I say, Maria? What's happening to me?"**

**"I don't know, Michael. It's almost like… there are two of you in there… and the other one doesn't like me at all!"**

**Michael looked momentarily confused… almost lost. Then he yelled for the portal. A bright light appeared, and before Maria could stop him, Michael leapt into it headlong, shouting his destination as he dove through the opening.**

**The sphere of the portal was not supposed to be a carnival ride. It was a doorway from one place to another… a portal. One passed instantly through it, they didn't "ride" to their destination. But this trip was anything but normal. As Michael leapt into the portal, he got the sensation that he was sliding down a chute… a chute with a lot of bumps and a few loop the loops. It probably lasted no more than ten seconds, if even that, but by the time Michael was ejected on the other end, he felt like he had been in a tornado, a minor detail that didn't slow him down for more than the few seconds it took him to get his bearings. Hearing someone coming, he ducked behind a large tree.**

**"But Kivar, if Rath catches you with me, you won't live to become the king."**

**It was Vilandra… and Kivar was with her.**

**"Then let's make sure that Rath doesn't catch us," Kivar replied with a smile. "Come on, Vilandra, just a small kiss… for old times sake."**

**"Kivar, you're a scoundrel," Vilandra said teasingly, but she turned away, denying him his kiss. "I am promised to Rath, you know. I don't want him thinking I've been unfaithful."**

**"Are you going to intercede for me, Vilandra? Are you going to help me get into the city? It's the only way, you know."**

**"I know, Var… I know. I really don't know what my brother's problem is. He knows you only want to discuss your rightful place in the royal family… so that your rights will be recognized in the line of succession… but alas! My brother is too dense to understand. He has forbidden your entry into the city, and Rath has placed guards everywhere to assure that his mandate is obeyed."**

**"But I only want to get in so I can speak with him, Vilandra… explain to him that I mean him no harm. He has no heir yet, and I am descended from the royal family, too. It is natural…"**

**"I know, Var. But my brother, Zan, is stubborn. A team of yeggs could not dissuade him once he has made up his mind. He believes that your intentions are to depose the royal family."**

**"Vilandra! How is that possible? I myself am of the royal family!"**

**Vilandra giggled. "Well, just barely maybe. The royal family doesn't usually acknowledge your kind, Var."**

**"So my mother was a shebble girl."**

**"Who was all of thirteen," Vilandra reminded him. "It may not sound fair, my dear, Kivar, but Zan's great uncle never confessed to being… uh… your father, you know."**

**"Well, he was. Everyone knows it."**

**"True. Everyone does. It's not really a secret. But acceptance is everything, Var. And my brother will not accept you. He will not let you into the city."**

**"I could change his mind if I only had a chance, Vilandra. Help me sneak into the city with my… entourage… just a few servants who carry my things."**

**"Kivar, you're hopeless. I'll help you. I know a way to get you in. My brother will be furious, but when he sees that you only want to reason with him, maybe he'll forgive me. I doubt it, but I don't care. He's stubborn as an ancient yegg!" **

**As Vilandra and Kivar moved on, Michael emerged from behind the tree to look around. In some strange way, everything looked vaguely familiar. He knew that the palace was to the left, about four tarins away. How he knew this, he wasn't sure, but he was certain of it. Michael turned left and walked toward the palace.**

**About two tarins from the palace, Michael came across four of the guards Vilandra had mentioned in her conversation with Kivar.**

**"Halt! Identify yourself!" **

**Michael looked up and turned to face the one who had spoken. He was holding some kind of weapon up as a barrier. Seeing Michael's face now in the light, the guard appeared to pale, and the three who were with him backed away, leaving him out in front alone.**

**"I'm sorry, Rath. I didn't see your face in the shadows! Forgive me!"**

**Michael waved at the guard dismissively and continued walking in the direction of the palace.**

**Once he had reached the palace, he sat down on a bench in the gardens to think about what it was he was going to actually do there. As he pondered this question, he was jolted from his thoughts by approaching footsteps. Michael looked around quickly for a place to hide but saw none readily available, so he decided that he would merely let them think that he was Rath… as he had done with the guards. Michael stood up straight and authoritatively faced the arriving individual. **

**It was Rath.**

**Rath stopped to assess the person in front of him. He walked slowly around Michael, looking at him from all sides. Michael tried to imitate Rath's motions, walking around Rath at the same time and observing him. He figured that if anyone was watching them, it was best if they could not be sure which one was the real Rath.**

**"Who are you," Rath asked. It did not have the sound of a question that was to be ignored. Something in Rath's tone demanded one's total attention and an immediate answer. Even Michael felt uneasy in his presence.**

**"I'm Rath," Michael replied.**

**Rath responded with a feigned left hook that took Michael by surprise, followed by a definitely unfeigned lightning fast right jab straight to the jaw. Michael was instantly knocked off his feet. Rath placed his arc gun against Michael's head. "Now let's try that again. Who are you?"**

**Michael rubbed his jaw, moving it back and forth to see if he might need to relocate it. As he moved it, he heard a click. He tried to open his mouth and was surprised to find that he could. Apparently, the jaw had fallen back into place.**

**"My name is Rath." **

**Rath raised his arc gun again, and Michael raised his hand in an effort to fend it off, but Rath spoke instead of firing.**

**"You look like me. I want to know how that's possible. Too many things are turning sour here lately."**

**"Sour?" Michael looked at Rath questioningly. "What do you mean?"**

**"I'll ask all the questions, Rath said. "Are you a shape-shifter?"**

**Michael shook his head.**

**"No… I didn't think so," Rath said slowly. "My form cannot be reproduced by shape-shifting… just as Zan's cannot. Yet somehow, you look like me. How is that possible?"**

**Michael seemed surprised by this revelation. He made a mental note to ask about it later… when he might have more chance of receiving an answer that wouldn't dislocate his jaw. He sighed and looked Rath in the eyes. "Have you ever heard of the river of time, Rath?"**

**Rath shook his head.**

**"Well, it exists. Let's just say it seems to be the inner workings of the universe… It's hard to explain, but I think something has happened to upset its natural balance. This time that you live in and the time I live in seem to be moving together somehow… like two ponds that have overflowed their banks, and their waters are mixing… becoming one."**

**Rath was silent for several moments, apparently thinking about what Michael had just said.**

**"Yes, there are a lot of unexplained things happening recently… too many. When I went to hold my lady, Vilandra, earlier, I saw the face of another woman… I thought it was a shape-shifter who tried to take Vilandra's body to get close to me! I gave the shape-shifter the welcome that it deserved… It abandoned my lady's body, and my lady returned, but the Krat-ax-an tried to return again, and I drove it away finally with a threat."**

**"A shape-shifter cannot appear in the body of another," Michael said. "A shape-shifter can only make itself look like another person."**

**"There are those who can do both," Rath said with assurance. "Now, are you going to tell me who you really are," he asked Michael again.**

**"I am you, Rath, from a future time."**

**"I exist here! now! Not in a future time," Rath exclaimed with irritation.**

**"But when you die here, Rath, your DNA is taken to another planet and combined with DNA from other beings. The result is… me."**

**"Why," Rath asked simply. "Why would anyone do that?"**

**"To assure the continuation of the royal family."**

**Rath looked suspicious… "But if I were dead… Zan could do that without me… unless… Zan dies, too, before his time."**

**Michael looked down at the ground. "I think I've said too much already. I cannot tell you any more, Rath."**

**"You don't have to. You've already told me what I need to know, even if you do not know it. I've heard reports that Vilandra has been seeing Kivar secretly. I didn't believe them. But now… I think that I might be wise to have her followed." "And as for you…" Rath added, "…if I find out you have lied to me, I will kill you… even if you are me."**

**Michael swallowed hard. He knew that Rath was not speaking rashly. He absolutely would follow through on his threat.**

**Rath started to leave but then seemed to change his mind. He turned to Michael and motioned… "Come with me." Michael hesitated then decided that wherever Rath was taking him, it would at least keep them together for the moment, and that would give him more time to figure out what he was going to do now that he was here. **

**As they walked back towards the palace together, Rath and Michael were surrounded by a dozen smiling young women who seemed to come out of nowhere. Michael started to smile back in a friendly way as they walked by, but he noticed that Rath was watching them intensely. And he was not smiling. Suddenly, the girls seemed to shimmer. Immediately, where the girls had been standing, a dozen well-armed soldiers appeared. Rath stood very still. He showed no emotion whatsoever except for a certain intenseness. It struck Michael that Rath looked rather like a hawk or an eagle dispassionately sizing up its prey. But Rath was only one… well, two, if Michael helped him. Michael looked at the soldiers again. Okay, it was two against twelve. He had Rath's face. The chance that they would spare him was basically zero. Besides, in some strange way, he felt a kinship with Rath.**

**Two of the shape-shifting soldiers, one from each side, attacked. Then, suddenly, all of the others rushed into the fray at once. Rath easily sent the first two sailing through the air, their necks broken. It appeared that Michael might not need to help him after all. Then the shape-shifters shifted again, turning themselves into creatures with which Michael had had more than just a passing experience… Dragons of Drago. These were not real Dragons, however. Of this, Michael was quite certain. Real Dragons religiously avoid all weapons. They believe that any Dragon that cannot bring down its prey or enemy with its own formidable teeth and claws is better off taken out of the gene pool. These were not Dragons. However, as long as they were taking the shape of Dragons, perhaps they might have the same weaknesses… the same Achilles heel.**

**One of the Dragons managed to rake Rath with a large, claw-like spur, opening a two-foot-long gash in his left arm. If Rath felt it, it was hard to tell. He showed no awareness of the pain. But clearly, his left side had become more vulnerable to attack now that his arm was injured. Rath had already managed to kill one of the fake Dragons and had wounded three others, but he was tiring under the Dragons' formidable assault, and all the pounding he had given their heads seemed to have had no effect. **

**Michael went on the attack. He rushed the nearest Dragon, which had its back to him, as it went after Rath. Michael jumped, landing on the Dragon's tail, and the Dragon roared and swung around, raising its tail suddenly and tossing Michael over its head. Michael grabbed onto the head and hung on, holding the snout closed with both arms around it. The Dragon began to show signs of suffocation. After a few moments, it flipped over and fell at Rath's feet.**

**"Nice! They do have Dragon physiology," Michael said to Rath. "They have to be able to open their mouths to breathe. Also, you can hit 'em in the upper snout, right over the third tooth. It's their nerve center. Their brain is attached to it. You could pound them in the head all day and not hurt them. There's nothing in there. Go for the snout."**

**Within minutes, Rath and Michael had incapacitated or killed all but three of the shape-shifters. The remaining three, seeing that the Dragon thing was no longer working for them, shape-shifted once again, this time turning into large birds, but instead of attacking, they flew away. Rath flung a pointed, light-weight, metal spear called a "bartaka" at the fleeing shape-shifters with his still-functional right arm and managed to bring one of the birds down. But the other two were, by now, gone.**

**"Go on! Fly back to Kivar and tell him of your defeat," Rath yelled after the birds.**

**Looking around at the dead and injured shape-shifters, Michael thought about the real Dragons. The real Dragons were his friends… ever since he and Max saved the Dragon children from the slavers on Gadyslar… and little Kiraugo, a Dragon child, totally idolized Michael. But somehow, Michael didn't feel any remorse over having killed these. They weren't Dragons. In fact, Michael actually felt, in a way, offended that these shape-shifters had chosen to use the forms of the Dragons for their traitorous plot.**

**Rath slapped Michael on the back and smiled. Michael hadn't seen Rath smile before, and he found himself oddly shocked to see that he actually could.**

**"Turn around, my friend," Rath said. "We have company."**

**Michael turned around to see that Zan had come out to meet them. He had been watching the final part of the battle.**

**"Rath," Zan said, looking back and forth at the two for a moment, "how did you manage to do this? Even I did not know that you could replicate yourself this way."**

**"I can't take credit for any new power, Zan," Rath replied. "My friend here is… a time traveler. He goes by the name…"**

**"Michael," Michael said for him. "I go by Michael."**

**"Well, Michael," Zan said, "You must certainly be descended from Rath. You are an exact copy!"**

**Michael nodded. "I am a descendent."**

**"Rath, you and your "descendent" must come in. Ava is having a special feast prepared for the two of you as we speak." Zan looked at Rath's left arm. The two-foot-long gash made by the Dragon's spur went all the way to the bone, but Rath had not even mentioned it. Zan placed his hands over Rath's arm and concentrated. As they watched, the arm began to heal. Then, slowly, the wound disappeared.**

**"Come!" Zan said. "You must be famished after that fight! Let's go in."**

**Michael had to admit that he actually had worked up an appetite. He nodded then grimaced slightly, as he felt the pain in his jaw. Zan noticed.**

**"Did something happen to your jaw, Michael?"**

**Rath smiled.**

**"Ah! I understand! You met Rath!" Zan started to place his hand next to Michael's jaw.**

**"It doesn't hurt," Michael said cavalierly and more than a little untruthfully. "It'll be okay."**

**Zan smiled. "Ava will be offended if you do not enjoy the feast she has prepared for you… You would be wise to accept my help."**

**Michael nodded. Zan held his hand next to Michael's jaw for a moment then removed it. Michael moved his mouth around and smiled. "Yeah! Yeah, that is better."**

**Zan and Rath both grinned, and the three men went into the palace, as the palace guards carted off the dead and injured shape-shifters.**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: "Jibo-E'yya and A'yako"**


	19. Rath18

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Jibo-E'yya and A'yako**

**Chapter 18**

**XVIII**

**Michael savored the over-sized Jibo-E'yya chops on his plate, as a smiling Rath shoved a large pot full of something that smelled divine in his direction.**

**"Try this, Michael! It's a specialty reserved only for the greatest warriors of our kingdom. You'll like it. Ava invented it for Zan, and the recipe is a closely-guarded palace secret."**

**Michael put some onto his plate then tasted it. As he let it swirl around his tongue, he smiled appreciatively.**

**"Pretty good, huh," Zan said.**

**Michael nodded. "More like great, I'd say! What is it?"**

**"We call it A'yako," Zan replied. "It's shredded yegg and jibo fixed in a stew with several secret ingredients. Ava won't tell even me what her special ingredients are."**

**Zan and Rath both laughed.**

**"This is the first thing I've ever tasted that doesn't need any Tabasco," Michael said.**

**"What's Tabasco," Rath asked.**

**"It's a special ingredient that was created on the planet Eluymer in the seventh galaxy.**

**"I've heard of Eluymer," Rath said. "Some of our exploration scientists went there a couple of years back. They reported that the inhabitants look remarkably like us… more than most of the distant species we know of. But I never heard of this Tabasco."**

**"I guess the Eluymerians kept it a secret," Michael said with a grin. Zan and Rath both laughed.**

**"Well, I'll have to have our scientists bring me some of this Tabasco if they ever go to Eluymer again," Zan said. "I, for one, would like to see what is so good that it can compare with Ava's A'yako."**

**"Well, I didn't say Tabasco was as good as this," Michael laughed. "If I'd had A'yako, I would have eaten nothing else at every meal. It's just that Tabasco is the closest thing Eluymer has to the 'special ingredients' in Ava's A'yako."**

**At the other end of the table, Ava smiled.**

**"Rath," Zan said, "These shape-shifters that attacked you today… are you sure that Kivar sent them?"**

**"I can't prove it, Zan… not yet anyway… but I am certain of it."**

**Zan sighed. "It's just that Vilandra is convinced of Kivar's benign character. She's after me day and night to talk to him… let him into the city."**

**"Don't do it, Zan! Kivar may have deceived Vilandra…"**

**"Or?" Zan asked, looking at Rath's face. "Rath, I know you. The way you say that Kivar may have deceived Vilandra leaves unsaid, 'Or something.' There is something else that you suspect. What is it?"**

**"I don't suspect Vilandra, Zan… but… there are sufficient reasons for caution with her. I am not accusing her of any disloyalty, only saying that she should be watched… for her own safety as much as for ours. Kivar is a treacherous man, and Vilandra was once close to him."**

**"Now she is betrothed to you, Rath."**

**Rath nodded and put another spoonful of A'yako into his mouth.  **

**"But look, Rath," Zan said, "We shouldn't be boring our guest with our problems."**

**"I'm not bored," Michael insisted. "In a way, your future and mine are connected… since I'm Rath's descendent…"**

**Zan smiled. "So you're a time traveler… You're obviously also a great soldier. What are you… in your own time?"**

**"General of the Armies of Antar."**

**Rath grinned broadly.**

**"I knew it," Zan said, "A great warrior like Rath… his descendent was bound to be a great warrior and a loyal defender of the kingdom!"**

**Michael smiled. "I guess we are alike in some ways."**

**"How do you travel through time, Michael," Zan asked. "I've never known of anyone who could do this."**

**Michael thought a moment then decided to answer. "There is a device that I use… a sphere from a very distant planet. It will take me to any place I ask… in this time or any other."**

**"That's incredible," Zan replied. **

**"Yes… it is," Rath agreed. "But shouldn't you keep such information to yourself, Michael? Are you not afraid that someone might steal your sphere?"**

**Michael smiled. "I thought about that… but the truth is, I wouldn't be able to use it myself except for a good and trusted friend who authorized me to use it. I don't have the sphere with me, and no one else here can command it, so no one would be able to steal it."**

**"Logical," Zan said. "He's a thinker, Rath… I'll have to give him that."**

**Rath nodded. "Are you also betrothed or married, Michael?"**

**"Married… yes, and I have three children. I believe you've seen my wife, Rath."**

**Rath looked surprised. "I don't remember meeting any other time travelers. I would remember that."**

**"No," Michael said, shaking his head. "When my wife kissed me earlier today, she was repelled by some unknown force acting through me. When she tried to kiss me a second time, the words…" Michael stopped and glanced at Ava… "Well, some words that I had not said came from my mouth. You mentioned seeing a different face when you kissed Vilandra. I believe the problem we were discussing… of time being out of balance, overlapping… caused us, you and me, to become one for a few moments. That's actually why I came here… to find out what happened and how we can fix it."**

**Zan looked concerned. "This happened again, Rath?"**

**Rath nodded. "I think I must owe you and your wife an apology then, Michael. I hope you will convey that message to her for me. You must understand that we've had problems with the shape-shifters here for some time now. They're loyal to Kivar almost to the last one. We do not know why. But when unusual things are seen in the kingdom, we always suspect the shape-shifters."**

**"For very good reasons, though," Ava said from the other end of the table.**

**Zan and Rath both nodded.**

**Rath smiled and offered a conciliatory observation…**

**"I should have known she was no shape-shifter, I guess, Michael. The transcendental shape-shifters –that's the ones who are able to move a small section of time aside for a moment and replace a person with a copy that is actually themselves- have little artistry in their craft. They are as likely as not to create a face that would look more attractive to a yegg." **

**Zan and Ava laughed. **

**"But your lady, Michael, is far more beautiful than any transcendental shape-shifter can replicate… that I have seen."**

**"I'll tell Maria you said that," Michael said. "She'll be pleased to know that she's more attractive than a yegg."**

**"I meant that she is more attractive than any shape-shifter is able to master… that I have seen. That is a compliment, Michael."**

**"I took it as such… and on Maria's behalf… [b]and mine[/b], thank you."**

**Again there was laughter from the others, this time including Rath.**

**"That does bring up a question that I had, though," Michael said. "You said something about the shape-shifters not being able to replicate your form or Zan's. I was wondering why that is."**

**Zan nodded and answered for Rath. "The shape-shifters are a different species than we are, Michael. They –the non-transcendental ones at least- are quite talented at changing their forms, but they have some limitations… and we have out secrets, too."**

**Michael nodded. "I understand. If you can't tell me, that's okay."**

**Zan and Rath looked at each other, then Zan looked back at Michael. "I see no reason not to tell you, Michael, the broader aspects anyway. The shape-shifters are, as I said, a different species than we are. We discovered that their vision is also different. They have a different range of vision. They can see far more than we can overall, but within a portion of the spectrum, a very tiny portion, there is a range within which they are basically blind. We see it but they don't. Because of this discovery, we were able to have our scientists create a masking feature –a cream that is applied to one part of our faces. It shifts that portion of our faces to within that range of the spectrum that the shape-shifters can't see. We see ourselves as we are… you see us as we are… but they see our faces distorted, and they recreate what they see. They do not know that we have this ability, and they do not understand how we can always spot their copies. You can understand why we limit this masking feature to just Rath and myself. If it were widely used, it would not be long before the shape-shifters would find out our secret and make corrections for it."**

**"That is a wise decision," Michael agreed. "I have to admit that I know very little about shape-shifters. I know they exist… I knew at least one myself. But I never heard of a transcendental shape-shifter. I don't think I've ever seen one of them."**

**"They aren't very common, Michael," Zan said, "But if you ever saw one, you probably didn't know it. There are only about ten thousand shape-shifters, that we know of, in our galaxy, and of those, only perhaps a thousand are in this section of the galaxy."**

**"And I think all of those have been recruited by Kivar," Ava said.**

**Zan nodded. "It would seem so. Of the one thousand shape-shifters that we try to keep track of, only about thirty are transcendental shape-shifters… a very small percentage overall."**

**"But a troublesome bunch for their small numbers," Rath added, lifting another spoonful of A'yako toward his mouth.**

**                             [center]----------[/center]**

**Far away from Antar, somewhere in the distant cosmos, Kryys and the Drax-ta-kiya walked together along the edge of the river of time.**

**"Master, the river is still rising, and some areas in time already have merged together. How will I know which waters to leave there and which waters to take out? The waters that I remove will become a part of the past."**

**"Yes, Kryys. That is correct. But I cannot help you. Only you can make this choice. You are the one who must decide. Are you prepared to do that?"**

**"I must study the river for a time, Master Drax. I do not wish to make a mistake."**

**"You are very wise, little sun drop. Study the river. Then you must decide."**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: "Night Of Terror"**


	20. Rath19

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Night Of Terror**

**Chapter 19**

**XIX**

**"Michael, do you have a place to stay," Ava asked. "…while you're here, I mean?"**

**Michael hadn't thought about it, and Zan sensed that he was caught off guard by the question. "You should stay here at the palace, Michael! You're one of us! Any defender of the kingdom who is also a descendent of Rath's must stay at the palace. I will not accept any other answer!"**

**Michael smiled and lifted his glass of jubish in a semi-toast. "Then I guess the answer is yes."**

**"Excellent!" Zan said. "Ava, will you see that Mayrna chooses a good room for our guest and prepares it for him?"**

**"Of course, Zan. Michael, I am very pleased that you will be staying here."  
  
**

**"Thank you."**

**"There is one thing that you must do, Michael," Rath said. He reached into a small box that he carried and removed a small container similar to a jar but made of something that clearly was not glass. He removed the lid and dipped a finger into the jar.**

**"Come here."**

**Michael leaned over, and Rath applied a thin layer of cream to Michael's eyebrows and nose… then to the tops of his ears.**

**"This is the cream that distorts your features?" Michael asked.**

**"Yes," Rath replied. "This cream has a refractive coefficient that falls within the infinitesimally small range that the shape-shifters cannot see, so anything covered with this cream is invisible to them. To the shape-shifters, we appear to have a flat face with only a small nub for a nose, no eyelashes, and ears that are flat on the top. It is enough so that we can easily recognize their fakes."**

**"Amazing," Michael said. "I can't see the cream on you at all."**

**"To us, the cream is simply translucent… invisible, and we see right through it as though it weren't even there. But the shape-shifters see nothing where the cream is applied. It blocks light refraction to their eyes. Their brains try to compensate by creating a false flat image where the cream is. They see skin, but it is featureless, created by their own brains inability to process the lacking data. That is the only weakness in their vision, though. Except for that, they see more than seven times as much as we do. To put it into perspective, we see from here to here in the light spectrum…" Rath held his hands a little over a foot apart. "The shape-shifters see in a range from here to here…" Rath moved his hands out to arms length… "with a defect area that is no bigger than a pinhole in the middle."**

**"It's amazing that your scientists were able to discover it," Michael said.**

**Rath nodded. "They are very efficient sometimes."**

**"Come, Michael," Zan said. "Allow me to show you the palace, then I'm afraid that we must retire for the night. As the king, I have to rise early, though sometimes I wonder what for."**

**"Zan has continued the reign of peace for our people," Rath said. "And he has worked tirelessly to improve the welfare of the people. The scientists and researchers that he brought together have cured the last diseases that existed on Antar; and under him, the people have greater prosperity than ever before. But he doesn't listen to me when I tell him that he needs to get out and see what is going on… what the people are saying… who may be an enemy…"**

**"That's what I have you for, Rath," Zan said. "Besides, I have done only good works as the king. I've offended no one. Why would anyone want to harm me?"**

**"Kivar…" Rath reminded him.**

**"Kivar is one man… and he is disgruntled, because he wants to be the king. He's a deranged individual… and the shape-shifters aren't Antarians. Kivar brought them here."**

**"Perhaps," Rath said. "And how many other deranged individuals may there be out there who want to be the king? I'm telling you Zan, you cannot be complacent about this. You must show more than your good works. The people must see your strength."**

**"I surround myself with strength, Rath… I have you… and my army that you head. I am a peaceful king. I want that to be my legacy."**

**"I'm just afraid that your legacy may be seen not as peaceful but as weak by those like Kivar. It is something for them to exploit."**

**"Your admonition is duly noted, Rath… and I appreciate it. I know you have my interests at heart. That's why you're the leader of my army and my closest friend."**

**Rath smiled and looked at Michael. "You see what I'm up against here, Michael? Well, perhaps he is right. Maybe I am acting like a mother hen, and maybe the people will appreciate his peaceful legacy."**

**"Peaceful people will appreciate it," Michael said simply.**

**Rath smiled. "Very well-said, Michael! I see you understand."**

**                                [center]----------[/center]**

**Michael looked out the window of his room in the palace at the stars and three moons above. He breathed in a deep breath of fresh air then closed the window, locked it, and climbed into bed. He was tired. It had been a rigorous day. It was hard to believe that he had come here, fought shape-shifters masquerading as Dragons, had his jaw dislocated by Rath, then dined in the palace and been accepted by Rath and Zan… and all this had happened today. Somehow, some of it seemed like it was already in the distant past. But when Michael rolled over, his sore muscles reminded him that it had been today. Within minutes, Michael was asleep.**

**                                [center]----------[/center]**

**… … … … …Michael spread his wings wide to catch the breeze coming over the top of the mountain. He felt the lift of the wind under his wings, and he let it carry him up… above the little green valley below. He looked for Maria, but he couldn't find her where she usually was. Michael looked down at the swift river below. Liz was usually there, skimming the surface of the water and making little eddies with the tips of her fingers. Liz liked to feel the cool spray over her wings and body on these warm summer days.**

**"Strange," Michael thought. "Maybe Max arrived before I did and they flew up into the east winds." Michael glided over the river and between two small hills; then he brought his wings down with powerful strokes, lifting himself upward into the high east wind. Here, he settled into an easy glide, allowing the powerful winds to support him. He looked as far as he could see in every direction, but he could not see Maria anywhere. Nor could he see Max or Liz.**

**Suddenly, Michael sensed that someone was beside him. He turned, expecting to see Maria…**

**"Kryys! Where did you come from? Where are your wings?"**

**Kryys smiled. "I don't need wings, Dad."**

**"Have you seen your mom? I'm looking for her."**

**Kryys shook his head, and his smile disappeared. He looked sad.**

**"Are you looking for her, too," Michael asked.**

**Kryys didn't answer. Instead, he dissolved into a billion tiny bright molecules, sparkling against the sun, and disappeared as mysteriously as he had come.**

**Michael felt a stab of something like fear… or foreboding. He wasn't sure what it meant. But he would have given anything right now for the comfort of Maria's presence next to him… her smiling face… her gentle touch… her warm body… Michael turned and flew back the way he had come. Perhaps Maria had returned home, he thought to himself. … … … … …**

**Slowly, Michael realized that there were voices around… loud voices. He rolled over and tried to block them out… then suddenly he sat bolt upright in his bed. It was Ava's voice… and Zan's, and several that he did not recognize. And judging from the tone of what he had heard, they appeared to be in trouble. Michael threw on his clothes quickly and opened the door to look out into the hall. He heard more yelling and some screams from outside. Michael ran quickly to the throne room. He arrived to find piles of bodies near the entrance… soldiers… but not theirs. It appeared that they had all had their necks broken or died of wounds from some kind of knife… or dagger. Michael remembered his and Max's dreams about Rath. He ran to the closet and opened the secret passageway behind it; then he ran toward the gardens that Vilandra had led them to in the dreams. As he emerged into the gardens, he was met by Rath.**

**"Rath! I'm so glad…" Michael looked at Rath closely. He had no eyebrows, no ears above the middle, and his nose was too small. Michael brought his hand up, and a blast of power incinerated the imposter, leaving only ashes where it had stood. As Michael turned around, he was confronted by Kivar, carrying a large, unfamiliar-looking weapon. Kivar pointed the weapon at Michael and smiled. Before he pulled the trigger, however, Nyykto appeared.**

**"Kivar, don't! I have plans for this one!"**

**"What plans, Nyykto? We finish him off now… get it over with… then Zan and the others will be a simple matter to finish off."**

**"I need to extract some information from him before we kill him," Nyykto said. "And I want him to think that he betrayed and killed Zan and the others… It's my revenge for his meddling."**

**Kivar thought about it then nodded. "Very well. I admit it will be good to know that he suffered before dying. I can use the TAZIER on him after he has suffered the humiliation of thinking that he betrayed Zan." Kivar kept the TAZIER gun pointed at Michael. "Do your mind crap now, Nyykto, while I have him covered."**

**Nyykto walked up to Michael and placed his hands on Michael's head. Michael felt a jolt of intense pain stab through his head, as though his brains were being sucked out through a small hole. He tried to fight the pain, but he grimaced then screamed. Nyykto smiled… but only briefly.**

**"I'm not getting the information I wanted," Nyykto said. "It's as though he's filled his mind with different thoughts… almost as though he were a different person. This isn't one of your shape-shifters is it, Kivar?"**

**"Of course not, you idiot. They wouldn't try to deceive me. Have you rendered him harmless for now?"**

**"Yeah… yeah… You can put the gun down. I can handle him now."**

**"I've got things to do," Kivar said. "Let me know when you're done with him."**

**Nyykto nodded. Michael was unable to move at all since Nyykto's mind extraction. He felt as though the knowledge of how to move had been removed from his head.**

**After Kivar had left, Nyykto walked around Michael, looking at him carefully. "What secret are you keeping from me, Rath? No one has ever been able to fight my mind extraction before. Why can't I see what I'm looking for?"**

**"Maybe if I knew what you were looking for, Nyykto, I could tell you."**

**"Yeah…" Nyykto chuckled. "Sure you would, Rath! After you had slit my throat or broken my neck."**

**Michael shrugged. "Suit yourself. Get it your way if you can."**

**Nyykto pressed his hands to Michael's head again, and Michael felt a stab of such intense pain that, for a moment, everything went white, and he almost lost consciousness. Nyykto threw his hands down in frustration.**

**"You've found someone who has the power to fill your mind with useless drivel that I can't use… stuff about a whole fake life… to keep me from finding what I want. Well, I'll get around your blocks… your manufactured information. Trust me, Rath."**

**"Trust you, Nyykto? Now there's an oxymoron… 'trust' and 'Nyykto' in the same sentence."**

**"You seem somehow different," Nyykto said… "faster wit but slower reflexes. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say that you weren't you."**

**"Well, what can I tell you, Nyykto. What you see is all you get. There's a lot to me that you don't know about. I guess I forgot to keep you in the loop."**

**Nyykto scowled. "So it would seem. Okay, then, let's see how much of that useless information I can extract and how much I can replace it with. I wish I could hang around and watch your agony when you think that you killed Zan and Ava, but I have other things to attend to… Somebody needs to kill them, you know. Oh, yes! You should be able to move your arms and legs in about ten or twenty jodarish." Nyykto pressed his hands again to Michael's head. "By then, you will have forgotten that you saw me, and you'll realize that you have done something terrible. You have betrayed your king and killed him and the rest of the royal family…" **

**Michael struggled mentally to block Nyykto's thoughts from entering his head or his own from being removed.   **

**"Well, what's this?" Nyykto said. "Who would have guessed that your mental ability would be so strong! I expected to find a weak, pathetic fool… all brawn and soldier, no brain, you know? Who'd have guessed? Don't worry, though, I'll break your defenses. You're no match for me in this area."**

**As Nyykto concentrated harder and harder, Michael concentrated harder and harder to block him. Michael felt that he was reaching the limits of his ability. He had no idea whether Nyykto was reaching the limits of his or not, but he hoped this would not go on much longer. It was all he could do to hold him back now.**

**Suddenly, a blast of power struck Nyykto from the right. Injured and surprised, Nyykto spun around to face his attacker. It was Zan. And with him was Rath. Nyykto turned pale. He started to react, but the blast he had received from Zan had had its effect. Nyykto collapsed to the ground unconscious.**

**"Are you alright, Michael," Rath asked.**

**Michael nodded groggily. His movement was just beginning to return.**

**"What did he do to you," Zan asked.**

**"He tried to remove my memories and replace them with false memories of killing you… and Ava. I was able to block him successfully… but I don't think I could have for much longer. You came just in the nick of time! How… How did you escape from Kivar and his soldiers?"**

**"Rath took care of them. They seemed not to be expecting him. He caught them totally by surprise as they attacked Ava and me. Between Rath and me, it was no trouble to mop up the likes of Kivar and his band of traitors."**

**"He's dead?"**

**"Not dead… unfortunately. But the loyal guards have placed him in confinement where he will not be any further problem." Turning to Rath, Zan asked, "Have you found Vilandra or my parents yet, Rath?"**

**Rath shook his head.**

**"Maria!" Michael shouted, jumping to his feet suddenly. "I have to find Maria!"**

**Zan looked at Rath.**

**"Maria is his lady," Rath said.**

**"Was she here," asked Zan.**

**"No," Michael replied. "She's in the future… in our time. But I have to get to her… make sure that she's okay."**

**"Then you must go now. Will we ever see you again, my friend," Zan asked.**

**"I… I don't know," Michael said. "Portal!"**

**Michael turned and looked at Zan, Rath, and Ava, as he walked into the portal. "Goodbye, my friends! Portal, take me back to my own time… to the time and place from which I left."**

**Michael stepped out on the other side into the palace. He looked around. Everything looked okay. **

**"Michael?"**

**Michael spun around. A man had just entered the room. It appeared to be Max, but he was older… much older.**

**"Michael? Is that really you," the older man asked. **

**"Max? I returned to our time. How… How did you get so old…?"**

**Just then an older lady walked into the room and took the older man's arm.**

**"I told you he would return someday, Zan!"**

**"Yes, Ava, you were right." **

**tbc**


	21. Rath20

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Ch-Ch-Changes**

**Chapter 20**

**XX**

**A shocked Michael stared at the two who had just entered the room. **

**"Zan? Is that you? …And Ava?"**

**Zan nodded… "Ava always believed that one day you would return, Michael. We've been waiting for you for… almost seventy years."**

**"But this isn't… this is……… Seventy years?" Michael asked, Zan's statement just registering with him. "How old are you?"**

**"We're ninety-three… both of us. But you don't look a day older than when we saw you last, Michael. You must tell us your secret!"**

**"I just left you… seventy years in the past… Where's Max? …and Liz… and MARIA! Oh my God! …MARIA!" Michael looked around quickly, and all the blood began to drain from his face. "Where's Zorel… and Kryys, and Jayyd?"**

**Zan looked at Ava, and she shrugged.**

**"We don't know those people, Michael. Are they in your time?"**

**"Yes. No… I mean… This is my time, Zan! This is the time that I came from. I left them all here when I went back to the past." Michael collapsed onto a sofa and buried his face in his hands. "They're gone! Everyone I knew… Everyone I ever loved…"**

**Zan and Ava sat down on each side of Michael and tried to comfort him.**

**"If this is the time that you came from, Michael, where was I in this time? Where was Ava? …And where was Rath?"**

**Michael didn't look up from his hands at first. It was hard enough for him to say it.**

**"You were dead, Zan… all of you. Kivar killed you… seventy years ago. Your scientists took your DNA… and Ava's… and Rath's and Vilandra's… and they combined it with DNA from humans on Eluymer. You, Rath, Ava, and Vilandra were reborn as Max, me, Tess, and Isabel. The scientists hoped that we would return and retake the throne one day… and we did."**

**Zan and Ava appeared stunned.**

**"And this Maria and Liz of whom you spoke? I remember Rath saying that Maria was your lady."**

**Michael nodded. He decided to avoid explaining Liz. It could not help for Ava to be upset right now, too.**

**"Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd were… are my children, Zan. I have to find out what happened and somehow find them and Maria!"**

**"Was Maria reborn from someone, too?"**

**Michael shook his head. "She was from Eluymer. I fell in love with her and married her."**

**Zan nodded. "Well, your… that is, Rath's… ties with Vilandra were not very strong. I always knew that. I'm not surprised that you chose someone else. From what you've told me, Michael, I'm inclined to believe that the past may have been changed."**

**Michael's face became even paler. It wasn't that he didn't know this already himself, but hearing it, it seemed somehow harsher… more final.**

**"Where is Rath," Michael asked, just realizing that nobody had mentioned his whereabouts in this time.**

**Zan's face took on a more somber look. "I guess you wouldn't know. Shortly after you left, Rath disappeared. We haven't seen him since."**

**Michael looked shocked. "Did you look for him… Were there any clues to what might have happened to him?"**

**"Yes, Michael, we looked. We searched for more than three years. Sometimes I think that we are still searching! The most likely answer is that Rath was killed. We know that Kivar had a small army that was still loyal to him even when he was locked up."**

**"Was locked up?" Michael queried.**

**"Kivar and Nicholas escaped about ten years after you left. Nothing more was heard from them for several years… then they tried again to take the throne, but we were better prepared this time. Rath had always warned me that I should get out and find out what was going on in my kingdom. I finally took his advice… after he was gone. It saved our lives."**

**Ava put her hand on Zan's arm and patted it lovingly. "Rath saved us even after he was gone," she said.**

**Zan nodded. "He was more to us than just a leader of my army, you know… more than just a warrior…"**

**"I know," Michael said quietly. He found it somehow unnerving to be talking about himself as though he were dead. And he and Rath were, in a way, the same person, even if they were also different.**

**"That's why we've been waiting so anxiously for your return, Michael," Zan said. "We always thought that there was something about you that was like a spark of Rath. You had his spark in you. And, too, we hoped that you might be able to help us discover what happened to him."**

**Michael nodded then put his face into his hands again. "I have to find Maria first… and Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd. I have to find the people I knew and loved… still love… here!"**

**"Have you considered, Michael," Zan said, "that, if the past was changed and we did not die seventy years ago, then our scientists did not sent our DNA to Eluymer either. So perhaps you never grew up on Eluymer, and your lady, Maria, may have never known you. She may have found someone else and may have a family there…"**

**"No!" Michael said loudly, shaking his head vigorously. "No…" He didn't want to accept it, but he knew, in his heart, that Zan was right. Maria… and Liz… would have never known him or Max. They probably would have married, but it would not have been to them.**

**"Portal!" Michael said loudly.**

**"Ask."**

**"Take me to wherever Maria is in this time. I must find Maria."**

**"That may be a mistake," Zan tried to say, but it was too late. Michael had stepped through the portal and was gone.**

**                               [center]----------[/center]**

**Michael reappeared in the entrance of a small café. He sat down at a table and looked around to see where he was. Spotting a sign outside, he got up again and walked back out to take a look. **

**"The CrashDown! Maria never left Roswell!" Michael went back inside and sat down again, and a young waitress came running over to wait on him.**

**"I'm so glad you came back! I thought you had walked out. We've been kind of swamped today. I'm sorry if the service has been a little slow."**

**"No problem," Michael said.**

**"What'll you have?" **

**"A Monster Alien Burger combo and a…"**

**"Whoa, whoa… whoa!" the waitress said, laughing. "How long has it been since you've been here?"**

**"Maybe you'd better let me see a menu," Michael said.**

**"Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't I give you a menu? Here…" The waitress grabbed a menu and laid it in front of Michael opened.**

**Michael looked at the menu and gasped… not so much at the change in the food but in the prices.**

**"$49.50 for an eight ounce sirloin? $9.99 for a cup of coffee?"**

**"It's Java au crème de lait… and you won't find better prices around here anywhere, sir."  **

**"Can I afford a bottle of Tabasco?"**

**"No charge. What do you want to put it on?"**

**"Nothing."**

**The waitress looked at him.**

**"Alright… Bring me the chicken cordon bleu… early bird… Can I get the senior…?**

**The waitress smiled and collected up the menu, shaking her head.**

**"Okay, just the early bird… Geez! $26.45 for a piece of cheesy Gallic chicken! Now I see why they called the French [i]Gauls[/i]," Michael grumbled to himself. "At least the Tabasco's still free."**

**The waitress was back in a flash with the Tabasco sauce. "Did you want something to drink, sir? I don't think you told me."**

**Michael shook his head. "This'll do."**

**The waitress looked at him but didn't say anything. She just smiled and started to walk back to the kitchen.**

**"Oh, Miss!"**

**"Change your mind?"**

**"No. Uh, I was wondering… Do you know a waitress named Maria… Maria DeLuca?"**

**The waitress laughed. "It has been a long time since you were here, hasn't it? Yeah, I know her. But she's not a waitress. She owns this place." The waitress turned to walk back toward the back again, which was just as well, because at the moment, Michael couldn't think of a single thing to say.**

**"Mom! Someone who remembers you from a long time ago wants to talk to you," the waitress said, as she walked into the back of the café.**

**A few minutes later, Maria walked out, and the girl pointed out who had asked about her.**

**"Hi," Maria said. "I hear you were asking about me. Did we know each other? I'm afraid I don't remember you. You look like someone I would remember."**

**Michael smiled and blushed slightly. "Yeah, but I'm not surprised you don't remember me. It was a long time ago… apparently. So you own this place now, huh?"**

**"Yeah! My husband bought it for me…"**

**"Your husband?"**

**Maria nodded. "When the Parkers moved out to California…"**

**"Liz moved to California?"**

**"Yeah… Liz went to UCLA to study molecular biology. A year after she graduated, she got a position in the biology department at Harvard, and her family moved again. She's head of molecular biology research at Harvard now. You knew Liz, too?"**

**"Yeah. You and Liz used to be the waitresses here."**

**Maria laughed. "Omigod! That was eighteen years ago… almost… uh, well, maybe not quite…" Maria smiled and pushed the hair out of her face then blushed a bit, too. "I'm just so surprised that you know me and I can't remember you. My memory is usually pretty good."**

**"Did I hear the waitress call you 'Mom'?"**

**"Yeah… That's my daughter, Sydney."**

**"You don't look old enough to have a grown daughter."**

**"You're a sweetheart! No, but she is… well, actually, she's my husband's daughter, but since we're married, she's mine, too, right?"**

**"Sydney…" Michael's mind began to put two and two together. "Her last name… your last name… wouldn't be 'Davis,' would it?"**

**"Omigod, now I really am going to be wondering where I knew you! I just can't believe you know everything about me, and I don't remember you at all. You do look familiar, though… in some strange way… It's odd. I feel like we knew each other in a previous lifetime or something." Maria laughed.**

**"Yeah… I think that's it," Michael agreed with a forced smile. What he was actually thinking was, "That son-of-a-bitch! I knew I should've killed Brody when I had the chance!" But as he thought about it, he decided that Maria could have married anyone, after all… "Perhaps the enemy you know is better than the one you don't. And Brody Davis wasn't such a bad guy really… just a bit too old for Maria," Michael thought to himself.**

**"Where did I know you," Maria asked.**

**"Oh… I… I went to Roswell High when you and Liz were there… and I used to come into the CrashDown sometimes for the Monster Alien Burger combo… with Tabasco sauce… and Snapples." Michael added those last parts hoping that something in Maria might click… that she might have some kind of memories of him somewhere deep down…**

**Maria shook her head. "That's so odd! I just don't remember you at all. What's your name?"**

**"Michael… Michael Guerin."**

**"No… Doesn't ring any bells at all. I'm usually so good at remembering people, too. This is going to haunt me now until I figure out who you were!"**

**Sydney brought the chicken cordon bleu to the table and placed it in front of Michael. Michael proceeded to pour Tabasco over it liberally.**

**"Ew," Sydney said quietly, turning away with a grin.**

**"That's funny," Maria said. "I seem to remember knowing someone who did that… but I can't remember who. Now that's going to haunt me, too."**

**tbc**


	22. Rath21

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Artist / The Warrior**

**Chapter 21**

**XXI**

**Michael stepped out of the portal and back into the palace.**

**"Did you find your lady, Maria, Michael," Zan asked.**

**"Yeah, I found her."**

**"Was everything alright?"**

**"She married that UFO museum jerk, Brody Davis. How can everything be alright?"**

**"Is he a bad person?"**

**"Yeah. He married Maria…" Michael sighed… "No, not really, I guess. But he's too old for Maria. He's got to be at least ten years older than her."**

**"Does she love him?"**

**"I don't know! …I guess so… she married him. What does it matter?"**

**"She wasn't unfaithful to you, you know, if she never knew you."**

**"I know… But that doesn't make it any easier."**

**Zan nodded. "I understand."**

**"I'd like to be alone for awhile," Michael said. "Is there a…"**

**"A room for you?" Zan finished his question for him. "Of course! Just tell me which room was yours, and it will be yours again… any room you would like in the palace."**

**"Thank you," Michael said. "I wonder what happened to my own house in the country."**

**Michael showed Zan and Ava the room that had been his in the palace, and they left him to his own thoughts. Michael closed the door, took off his shirt, and sat down on the bed, putting his head in his hands, but then he looked up again with determination.**

**"The last thing I need to be doing is sitting in my room moping."**

**Michael grabbed his shirt and put it back on then walked back out to the living area.**

**"Back already, Michael? Have you decided what you're going to do?"**

**"I've decided what I'm NOT going to do… I'm not going to waste my time sitting around moping about what I've lost. I'm going to do something. Is there somewhere around here where I can buy some new clothes and get some things I need?"  
"Well, there's Kyyks. They've got about everything anyone could need. You can put it on the palace account for now. I'm sure you don't have a lot of currency on you, since you were expecting to find something different when you came here."**

**Michael nodded. He had forgotten that Kyyks had actually been around before the royals were killed, so it was logical that it would still be here even if some other things might have changed.**

**"I'm going to see if I can find out what happened to Rath," Michael said. "Maybe while I'm working on that, something will come to me, and I can figure out how to fix whatever has happened to time and get Maria and the kids back. Tell me what you can about Rath's disappearance."**

**"Well…" Zan said, "He disappeared about six moon cycles after you left, I guess…" Zan looked at Ava, and she nodded. Zan continued… **

**"Rath had been having strange visions… of places he'd never seen before…"**

**"And there was a dream about flying," Ava said.**

**"Yes." Zan nodded. "And he couldn't remember ever having seen the places in his dreams before and didn't know why he would dream of flying, since none of us remember ever having had wings."**

**"I've had that dream," Michael said. "I don't remember ever having had wings, either. What places did Rath see in his dreams?"**

**"In one dream, he would be a child, and he would see a man hitting him. In the dream, he felt that the man was his father, but, of course, we know that it was not. He told us of another dream in which the man started to strike him with a bottle, but a being… a powerful and beautiful angel surrounded by a bright light, came in and blasted the bottle apart in the man's hands with the power of his mind then showed the man what would happen to him if he continued to be evil by setting his feet on fire with a bolt of lightning. Rath said this so affected the man that the man didn't strike him again for almost two years."**

**Michael listened in disbelief. "I thought maybe it would stop him for a week, perhaps a month. But two years! I must have really scared the bejeebers out of Hank when I set his shoes on fire!"**

**"Hank!" Ava said. "That was the name Rath used for the man in his dreams!"**

**"Michael?" Zan looked at him questioningly.**

**"The boy was me," Michael said quietly. I really don't know why Rath would have had that dream, Zan. When Kivar killed us in the past and the new hybrids were created on Eluymer… we were placed in pods to incubate in a secret place in the desert. When we emerged from the pods, we were about six years old in Earth years, so the Earth people who found us placed us with adults who would be our parents. But we were not all treated alike. You and Vilandra were adopted by a good family and grew up as brother and sister. I was given to Hank, who became my foster father; and as you've heard, he was not so nice. Ava was actually found by her protector, a shape-shifter from Antar, before the Earth people found her. This shape-shifter, whom we knew as Nasedo, never harmed Ava physically, but he raised her to believe that Antarians were far superior to Earth people and should use Earth people or even kill them as necessary. When Max –that's your hybrid, Zan- and I went back in time… the first time… to save Maria and… some others, we found that our intervention had somehow changed Ava by removing some of Nasedo's influences."**

**"And the angel Rath saw?"**

**"Me," Michael said. "When I started this quest to find out who I was, I went back and found Hank about to strike me… that is, my six-year-old counterpart… with a bottle. I did what I felt would help… short of killing Hank."**

**"Somehow, Rath saw this happen," Zan said, "…in his dreams. He also saw your lady, Maria…"**

**"Maria?" Michael asked, perking up suddenly. "What about Maria?"**

**"Different things… Mostly, he was confused and conflicted by the way seeing her made him feel. He found himself being more and more attracted to her and less and less to Vilandra. He fought this, because he knew that she was your lady. He didn't know why he would have these feelings. I don't think Vilandra was a consideration. To tell the truth, the two of them were never close… They just thought that they were supposed to be.**

**And it is interesting that you should mention the shape-shifter, Nasedo," Zan continued. "I knew Nasedo. It was not common knowledge, but there were a few shape-shifters who came over to our side and abandoned Kivar. A very few of these… I believe there were five in all… were trusted enough to be assigned to protect the royals covertly. They were the perfect choice for this job, because Kivar believed that all the shape-shifters were loyal to him. And, of course, their ability to change their shapes was a factor in their assignment, too. I'm really not surprised that Nasedo or any of the other four trusted shape-shifters would have been sent to Eluymer to protect the royal hybrids. It makes sense." **

**"What else can you remember about Rath from that time," Michael asked.**

**"That's about it… just the constant dreams during the last days before he disappeared. We knew that some of Kivar's old group were remassing to try to rescue Kivar and Nyykto. But after Rath disappeared, we saw no more of them. We always figured that they had ambushed Rath somehow and were either holding him as their prisoner to demand Kivar and Nyykto's release… or they had killed Rath and had decided to lay low for a time."**

**"Yeah," Michael said, "The hostage thing sounds right in the beginning, but after all these years, it seems unlikely. It's possible that they took him hostage to trade him for Kivar and Nyykto, then he tried to escape and was killed but managed to kill all those holding him at the same time. I've seen Rath work. He's capable of it."**

**"Yes," Zan agreed. 'He was indeed. And your scenario sounds very plausible, Michael. The fact that something like that may have happened is what we've always feared. You can begin your search by talking to Garandev if you'd like. His father was one of Rath's most trusted captains, and he also knew Rath. Perhaps he can tell you something that I can't. He can also give you the names of others you can talk to."**

**Michael nodded. "Thank you. I'd best get started right away." Michael turned and left the palace. His first stop was Kyyks, then he headed for Garandev's house.**

**                                    [center]----------[/center]**

**"Michael, I can't tell you what you did to me when you appeared at my door," Garandev said. "My heart literally leapt into my throat. I was sure that Rath had returned. I'm still in shock over how much you look like him. The differences are so tiny… I don't think anyone would ever notice." Garandev laughed. "Actually, I rather imagine that most people wouldn't believe that you weren't Rath even if you pointed out the differences to them. You might as well be him."**

**Michael smiled but didn't immediately reply.**

**"We're coming up to Rath's house just ahead. He's been gone for a very long time now, but his house is still kept up as though he were there. Zan has seen to it."**

**Garandev pulled his Xac-Var III into the drive at Rath's former home and passed his hand over the handprint on the dash. The three engines purred to a halt, and the car settled to a parking altitude of .5 kydarish, about seven and a half inches. The top of the car slid back, and Garandev and Michael stepped out.**

**"I'm a bit surprised to find the same hovercars that were here when Max and I were here, but I guess I shouldn't be. After all, Max and I didn't invent them. The same people who invented them in our time invented them in this time. To them, there never was a change… Zan just never went away, and we never came. Everything else just… well… continued."**

**"That must be very strange for you," Garandev said. "What kind of car did you have… before you came back and found things… like they are?"**

**"A Fan-Ji IV," Michael said.**

**"Fan-Ji IV! That's the new one… Variable cruising altitude up to… what is it… fourteen Kydarish?"**

**"Yeah, ten feet… fourteen kydarish."**

**"That's a nice-looking car. I wouldn't mind having one myself. But I still like my Xac-Var III better than anything else in the air. Granted, it has one cruising altitude, 2.5 kydarish, and one parking altitude, point five kydarish, but it will still out-perform the best of them."**

**"Nothing wrong with a Xac-Var III," Michael agreed. They're sure to become classics. That third engine really kicks!"**

**"Yeah, it does," Garandev said. "The thing about the Fan-Ji IV is that, yeah, it has four engines, but two of them are dedicated to the variable altitude control, so only two of them are available for speed."**

**"It's plenty fast enough," Michael said.**

**Garandev nodded. "Oh, that it is! Don't get me wrong… It's a great car! I just wouldn't give up my Xac-Var III… even if someone offered me two Dyygitix-Sixteens for it!"**

**Michael laughed. "You must really love this car! I'm afraid a Dyygitix-Sixteen would have cost me two years of my income."**

**"Let's go in," Garandev said. "I've got a DNA pass." Garandev passed the DNA card in front of the sensor on the door of Rath's house, and the door opened for them. Michael and Garandev walked in and looked around.**

**"You'd never know that he wasn't here this morning," Michael said. "It looks so normal… lived in… kept up."**

**Garandev nodded. "That's the way Zan wants it. He still thinks Rath is coming back some day."**

**Michael looked down at the floor. "I don't think Zan's living in denial. I think he knows the reality of the probability that Rath is dead, but he just refuses to give up hope. I guess that's not a bad thing."**

**"No," Garandev agreed. "It's not a bad thing. I hope he's right."**

**Michael walked through the door into one of the bedrooms and gasped. Garandev came running.**

**"What is it, Michael?"**

**Michael pointed at an easel beside the bed. On it was a sketch… a very good sketch… of Maria.**

**"I never knew that Rath was artistic," Michael said. "Nobody ever told me that."**

**"I guess he never told anyone, Michael. I knew it. He had a spark of genius in him. But I think this is far better than anything I ever saw him draw before. Even I didn't know he was this good. Do you sketch, Michael?"**

**Michael nodded. "This looks a lot like a sketch that I once did of Maria."**

**Michael stared at the picture for several minutes then turned and walked back out to the living area. **

**"Did Rath mention having anywhere to go, Garandev, or having anything left undone that he might have wanted to finish?"**

**Garandev shook his head. "I can't think of anything. Rath lived for the realm. He was warrior… a supreme warrior… with one goal in life… to be the best at what he was and to protect the king and the realm."**

**"Yeah," Michael said. "That I knew. Well, I guess there's nothing else to see in here. You want to go?"**

**Garandev nodded. Michael took one last look through the door of Rath's bedroom at the sketch of Maria. Then he turned and walked out of the house with Garandev. As they were getting into Garandev's car, six small children approached.**

**"That's a nice car, mister."**

**Garandev smiled. "Thanks."**

**"Who are you," one of the children asked Michael.**

**"My name is… Michael," he answered, but something inside Michael's head was ringing a loud and very clear warning. It wasn't something he actually heard… more like a sixth sense. Michael did not smile but watched the children closely. Suddenly all six of the children shimmered then changed into large soldiers. Immediately, they attacked. Garandev was initially caught by surprise, as two of them grabbed him at once. The other four converged on Michael. Michael feigned a left hook then sent a lightning fast jab straight to the jaw of the first soldier, shattering his jaw and knocking him to the ground unconscious. The other three attacked together. Michael sent two of them flying through the air. He easily dispensed the last one with a roundhouse type kick to the abdomen. Michael looked at Garandev. He had disposed of his two adversaries, too. Garandev checked the two that Michael had sent flying…**

**"Their necks are broken, Michael."**

**He checked the one Michael had kicked… **

**"Dead… multiple internal injuries… broken spine… from one kick to the abdomen!"**

**The fourth shape-shifter was still alive… barely… with a badly shattered jaw. The two who had attacked Garandev were also in serious condition, but with less extensive injuries overall.**

**Garandev looked at Michael. "If I didn't know better, Michael, I'd swear that I was looking at Rath."**

**Michael felt uneasy. He looked at the shape-shifters… the broken necks… the shattered jaw… the broken spine with internal injuries. Michael shook his head. **

**"I… I've got to go, Garandev… Let's go. Can someone pick these guys up and take care of them?"**

**Garandev nodded. "I'll see to it. I'll get on the communicator now."**

**Michael looked again at the shape-shifters… then he looked at his hands… "Who am I?"**

**tbc**


	23. Rath22

The Four Faces of Rath 

**I Don't Need Wings To Fly, Dad**

**Chapter 22**

**XXII**

**After leaving Garandev, Michael called for the portal again…**

**"Portal, take me to wherever Shag and Maya are right now."**

**Michael stepped into the portal and found himself on a balcony overlooking an Emerald sea. He recognized this place… the Emerald Sea… the moons visible in the day sky… It was Xarius, and he was at the palace of Shaqor and Maya. Michael heard footsteps coming; then the doors to the balcony opened, and he found himself face to face with Shaqor-Niseel Vredis Davor, Zasharn of Xarius, affectionately nicknamed "Shag" by Maya, and usually called Shag by the royal family and their friends on Antar.**

**"Who are you? What are you doing here?"**

**"Shag! I'm Michael… You know me… Don't you remember?"**

**Shaqor shook his head. "I don't know a 'Michael.'"**

**"Rath," Michael said. "I'm called Rath. I'm from Antar!"**

**"Rath? …from Antar? I know that there was a warrior… a general named Rath… on Antar. He disappeared many years ago."**

**"No. Not that Rath… I'm Michael, from Earth…"**

**"Urth?"**

**"Earth… you know… Eluymer…"**

**"The place where my wife lived when I found her?"**

**"Yeah! That's it! Don't you remember? Max and I retook the throne of Antar…"**

**Shaqor raised his eyebrows. "Antar is at peace. The king of Antar is Zan… has been for almost a hundred years. His father was king before him… You cannot be who you say you are."**

**"Then how am I able to command the sphere of the portal," Michael asked.**

**Shaqor looked suddenly interested. "[b]My[/b] sphere? You cannot…"**

**"Portal!" Michael called.**

**A doorway that looked something like a mirror appeared. "Ask."**

**Michael looked at Shaqor. Shaqor's eyebrows had gone up considerably.**

**"Never mind," Michael said. "I won't need the portal right now."**

**The portal disappeared.**

**"Okay," Shag said. "Come in." Michael walked into Shag and Maya's bedroom behind him.**

**"Now start explaining… Michael… or whoever you are. How is it you are able to command my sphere? Only Maya and I can command it."**

**"And Liz," Michael added.**

**Shag shook his head. "I know of no Liz."**

**"You did," Michael replied. "She's Maya's direct descendent from Eluymer. She's Max's wife…"**

**"Who is Max?"**

**"Max is Zan… Geez, this is going to be hard…"**

**Michael sat down on a chair and began to explain everything to Shaqor. When he had finished, Shaqor shook his head and whistled lightly.**

**"You have a problem, Michael."**

**"I think it's bigger than me," Michael said.**

**Shag nodded. "I have to agree. If what you said is accurate, we have to find some way to correct the aberration in time."**

**"But how," Michael asked. "Maria doesn't remember me at all. She's married… to Brody of all people!"**

**"You'd rather it were someone else?" Shag asked.**

**"Of course not! I'd rather it were no one!" Michael retorted. Then he added, sadly, "I'd rather it were me…"**

**Shag nodded his understanding. "I don't know what can be done, my friend, but we will work on it together. Perhaps if we knew exactly what caused the aberration…"**

**"I guess I did," Michael replied. "I kept Nyykto from finding Rath, because he found me first and thought I was Rath. So Rath was able to attack Kivar and defeat him, because Kivar thought Nyykto had taken care of Rath… but it was me."**

**"Don't be too fast to blame yourself, Michael. I know something about time. I have lived for 12,337 years after all. It hasn't been without learning a few things along the way."**

**"How can I not blame myself, Shag? The evidence is all there."**

**"The evidence you see, Michael," Shaqor said. "There is usually more than what one sees to everything… and time is not so easily changed."**

**"I kept Nyykto from finding Rath, so Rath caught Kivar unaware. Result: The royal family didn't die, I never met Maria, my children were never born. It seems simple to me," Michael said.**

**"It may seem so, Michael, but time is like a river…"**

**"Yeah, I keep hearing that."**

**"Okay, well, imagine this… Nyykto finds you, thinks he found Rath… Does that change everything in time?"**

**"It looks like it did," Michael said.**

**"If you think of time as a river, Michael, imagine that the river is flowing along, and you dip your hand in it. Undoubtedly, you have had an effect, but have you changed the river?"**

**"No, of course not. It would take more than my hand…"  
"Okay, imagine that those little animals that you had on Eluymer with the flat tails built one of their dams in the river… a big river like the river of time… would it totally change the river?"**

**"Probably not really," Michael said. "If it was a small river or a creek, it might, but a large river would probably part and flow around the dam and rejoin somewhere downstream. The beavers might create a pond with their dam, but the river wouldn't be stopped or its course significantly altered except at that spot."**

**"Ah, so you agree that the effect to the river would not necessarily be catastrophic?"**

**"Yeah… I guess so."**

**"Then why do you think that Nykkto finding you instead of Rath catastrophically altered the river of time?"**

**"Because the evidence suggests it," Michael said.**

**"What if there were other evidence?"**

**"I would have to see it," Michael said, still unsure.**

**"We shall see," Shaqor replied. "We shall see if there are any other trails. I'm not asking you these things just to ease your conscience, Michael."**

**"Don't worry, Shag, you haven't."**

**Shaqor smiled. "In order to fix what is wrong, we have to find the true cause of the aberration… and if you are convinced that you are the one and only true cause… then you may be inclined not to look any further, and you will not see any clues that might be there. If you wish to see your Maria again…" Michael suddenly was listening with all his attention… "you must look for any clues… all clues… that would tell you what happened. Only when you know the cause will you be able to fix the problem."**

**                                       ----------**

**Back in the palace on Antar, in his own room, Michael looked at his shaking hands again and shook his head…**

**"I know who I am. Why did I act like Rath today? What's wrong with me?"**

**Michael thought about Maria… then about Jayyd… and Zorel… and Kryys… As he thought about them, a movement in the room got his attention, and Michael looked up suddenly. **

**"What? Is it possible? [b]Kryys?[/b] Oh my God! If you're here, where are Jayyd and Zorel?"**

**"Not born," Kryys said simply.''**

**"But how are you here then?"**

**Kryys smiled. "I don't need wings to fly, Dad."**

**"What does that mean, Kryys. I'm not a philosopher."**

**"Master Drax taught me to become one with time. When everyone else disappeared, my essence remained… just as theirs does, but they're not aware of themselves. I am here, because I am aware of myself, but I'm not really who I was, and you're not who you were."**

**"I don't understand."**

**"Your DNA was never sent to Earth… You were never born."**

**"But I'm here. If I'm here, how can I not have been born?"**

**"Haven't you figured that out yet, Dad?"**

**Michael shook his head.**

**Six months after you left the past, but before the time you were returning to, Rath disappeared… You ceased to exist at the same moment, because that's when your DNA was mixed with Earth DNA and 'Michael's' life began… only it didn't happen… and you never came back from the past."**

**Michael turned pale. "No! No, I'm not…" Michael thought back. "You're saying that I'm really Rath? …that Michael no longer exists? I… I still have my own memories."**

**"For now," Kryys said. "Master Drax said that is a good thing. As long as you have your own memories, too, there is hope that the river can be corrected."**

**"And if I forget… my own memories?"**

**Kryys shook his head. "Then that life will be gone… forever."**

**tbc**


	24. Rath23

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Wedding Itch**

**Chapter 23**

**XXIII**

**As Michael sat on his bed, thinking about what Kryys had said, he had another unexpected visitor… one who entered his room through the portal…**

**"Shag! What are you doing here?"**

**"I've been working on your problem, Michael. I've made some inquiries and found out a few things."**

**"There's something you didn't know, Shag? …After 12,337 years," Michael asked with a tiny bit of sarcasm.**

**"I'm still learning new things, Michael. Anyway, here's what I found out. In the twenty-ninth galaxy, in sector 3Y, there is a small group of beings that are capable of altering the course of time. They can go backward or forward in time at will and alter time in pretty much any way they wish. Fortunately for all of us, these beings have the strictest laws regarding the use of their powers, and none of them has ever gone against their laws… until recently."**

**"What do you mean, 'until recently?'"**

**"Well, recently to me… not to you, I guess. …Historically recently… like in the last seventy years. Does that ring any bells for you, Michael?"**

**"Seventy years… right about the time I left the past and things went out of whack…"**

**"Right. I don't have any proof, so far, that the Nogi-Ky'a –That's the beings I was talking about- have actually had any part in your personal situation, but the circumstantial evidence is mounting."**

**"What circumstantial evidence?"**

**"Six of the Nogi-Ky'a decided to go against the laws of their people seventy years ago and use their power to alter time in order to… sort of 'uncreate' a planet."**

**"Whoa!"**

**"Yeah. Well, you see, the Nogi-Ky'a are rather unremarkable except for their power to alter time or travel in time. And their planet has been plagued for almost ten thousand years by this other planet…"**

**"The one that no longer exists?"**

**"Exactly. The planet was called Roshix. Anyway, the Roshixians were sort of like the Ghors were here, I guess, only worse…"**

**"There's something worse that a Ghor?"**

**Shaqor ignored the comment and continued. "The Roshixians were larger, stronger, and considerably more inclined to violence than the Nogi-Ky'a; and for ten thousand years, they pretty much had their way with the Nogi-Ky'a, showing up whenever they wished and taking Nogi-Ky'a as slaves, killing them for no reason at all, or stealing everything they had."**

**"I'd be pretty pissed, too," Michael said.**

**"They were 'pissed,' as you say, Michael, but they knew that using their power unwisely was potentially even worse than the unbearable situation they had to tolerate."**

**"How could it be worse than that?"**

**"On Xarius, there is a … riddle, I think you would call it. They ask someone if they could choose between a job that paid a million Unsits for a month's work or one that paid…"**

**"I've heard this," Michael said. "We had the same 'riddle' on Earth. If someone offered you a million dollars for a month's work or one penny the first day, two pennies the second day, four pennies the third day and kept on doubling it each day for a month, which offer would you take?"**

**"Right. Same idea."**

**"Yeah, the multiplication factor makes the penny the better deal."**

**"Exactly. Well, it's the same thing with changing time. Every action has multiple reactions, and each one of those reactions creates multiple new reactions. Eventually, it is impossible to track down all the reactions in order to contain them or change them back if you need to. So the Nogi-Ky'a can only use their power after an extensive review by the ruling board to determine every possible reaction and make allowances for it. The problem is, the board had consistently refused to allow the planet Roshix to be destroyed –uncreated, I guess, is a better description- because the reactions were determined to be too great to contain or predict. For everyone in the universe, it would be like standing in a lightning storm. Anyone might be hit by a reaction. I think that's what happened to you, Michael. You were hit."**

**"Interesting," Michael said. "So you're saying that I didn't do anything to cause it myself?"**

**"I didn't say that," Shaqor said. "What you did was, lets say, you stood outside flying a Jishkee on a string in the storm… and you got hit. You didn't create the lightning, but you made yourself a great target for it. You know what I mean?"**

**"Yeah, I get your point, Shag. So what do we do about it?"**

**"That's the big question, Michael."**

**"If these Nogi-Ky'a have the power to change time, couldn't they just change everything back?"**

**"I'm sure they would change it all back if they could track all the reactions down, Michael."**

**"Couldn't we just go to them and tell them that this was a reaction, and ask them to change it?"**

**"It might not do you much good, Michael. They'd have to study your claim for about 300 years then determine all the reactions that would occur if they changed that one reaction without changing the ones that led up to it in the order in which they occurred."  
  
"So what you're saying is I'm screwed."**

**"I didn't say that exactly."**

**"Okay, 99.99 percent screwed."**

**"Something like that."**

**"That's what I thought. Kryys told me that as long as I still have my own memories, there's still hope of changing the aberration in time."**

**"Kryys?"**

**"Yeah, my son, Kryys."**

**"When did he tell you this?"**

**"Today… a little while ago… He was just here."**

**"How?"**

**"Oh, yeah, you don't remember him. Well Kryys is… sort of unique. He can change his physical body into streams of billions of molecules and join the river of time. He said that's the reason he's still around… because he's aware of himself and the others aren't."**

**"Makes sense," Shaqor said.**

**"I'm glad it does to you, Shag. It took me a really long time to understand all this time stuff."**

**"So you still have all your memories, therefore there's still hope…"**

**"Right… according to Kryys… and the Drax-ta-Kiya."**

**"I've heard of him… from Jeroglasst."**

**"Right."**

**"Tell me again, what were the names of the people you were looking for, Michael?"**

**"My wife, Maria… and my children, Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd."**

**Shaqor wrote it down. "Who else?"**

**Max… and his wife, Elis- uh… Elisha, and his children………… I… I can't think of their names."**

**"How many children did he have?"**

**"Three… No, four… I think… or maybe five…"**

**Shaqor looked at Michael. "Michael, you told me before that Max's wife's name was Liz."**

**"Liz! That's right… Elizabeth! That's what I was thinking of."**

**"You're forgetting, Michael."**

**Michael shook his head at first but then nodded and winced slightly. "Shag… I think I need to refresh my memory… I can't let myself forget them."**

**"Do you remember their faces?"**

**Michael thought about it. "Maria's, yeah… and Kryys'… He was just here… and Jayyd's… I think."**

**"You must try to remember, Michael."**

**"Shag, I've gotta go."**

**"Where?"**

**"To find Li- Liz. I can create new pictures in my mind… in case the old ones fail me. I have to have something I can hold on to and remember them by."**

**Michael called for the portal then stepped through.**

**"Good luck, Michael," Shaqor said.**

**                                         ************

**As he stepped out of the portal, Michael found himself in a garden where a wedding was about to start.**

**"Great," he thought to himself, as he looked around then took a seat. Leaning over to a young lady beside him, Michael asked, hoping to find out who was getting married… **

**"Are you a friend of the bride or the groom?"**

**"Both," the lady replied. "James Quigley was my professor of Physical Sciences, and Elizabeth Parker was my professor of Molecular Biology several years ago. I promised her if she ever got married, I would come, and she sent me an invitation." The young lady smiled. "She really is a great professor. Now she's head of molecular biology research."**

**"So I heard," Michael said, a bit stunned. "Why'd she decide to get married now?"**

**The young lady smiled. "Who knows? Maybe she loves him."**

**"Maybe?" Michael asked.**

**"That's him coming out now with his best man," the young lady said.**

**"Which one is Quigley?" **

**"The shorter one. Haven't you ever met Quigley?"**

**"No. I'm a friend of Liz's."**

**"Liz? You know Elizabeth pretty well, huh?"**

**"Yeah," Michael said. "What does she see in Quigley?"**

**"He's just one of the biggest molecular biologists ever. He won a Nobel last year for something he was working on with Elizabeth."**

**"Didn't she win it, too, then?"  
  
**

**The young lady shrugged. "I guess not. He published it in his name. Her name wasn't on it."**

**"Well, that sucks," Michael said.**

**"Shhh!" several people from the row in front of him said at once. Michael noticed that an usher had just finished seating the mother of the bride, Nancy Parker, in the front, and the groomsmen were taking their places next to the groom and his best man. **

**In a few moments, the bridesmaids appeared, followed by the maid of honor, a ring bearer, and a flower girl. These last two appeared to be about five years old. As "Here Comes the Bride" began to play, Liz appeared on her father's arm. She was beautiful. She walked slowly down the aisle, wearing a traditional long white wedding gown, as the flower girl threw rose petals in front of her. Liz was radiant.**

**The bridesmaids, flower girl, and bride took their places on the right side of the preacher, which was to the left of the audience. The groom, his best man, and the ring bearer stood on the preacher's left.**

**Michael couldn't stop staring at Quigley. He appeared to be perhaps a few years older than Liz. His exact age was hard to determine. But what bothered Michael was that Quigley kept looking at his watch, he never once smiled, and most disturbing of all, he never looked at Liz. Michael wondered what in this man's life could be so important to him that he couldn't wait to get back to it… on his wedding day.**

**[i]We've come here today…[/i] the preacher was saying.**

**"Quigley doesn't look like he's happy to be here," Michael whispered to the young lady beside him.**

**"Well, it's not like it's his first time. I imagine he's happy, though. He begged Elizabeth to marry him forever before she accepted."**

**"Not the first…? He was married before?"**

**"Three times," the young lady said quietly, holding up three fingers. "This'll be number four. It's the first for Elizabeth, though."**

**[i]Do you take this woman to be…[/i]**

**"Something's not right here," Michael said. "I don't know what it is, but something's just wrong with this."**

**[i]in sickness and in health, in joy and in sadness…[/i]**

**"Elizabeth has been working on something that'll probably get her her own Nobel," the young lady said.**

**Michael looked at the young woman. "Not if Quigley takes all the credit."**

**"I hear she hasn't let anyone see her research on this one… even him. It's supposed to be big."**

**A chill of foreboding ran up Michael's spine.**

**[i]If anyone knows any reason why this…[/i]**

**"What kind of research?"**

**"Well, the rumor has it that she's working on proof that alien life exists. But she's keeping her research tightly guarded."**

**[i] let them speak now…[/i]**

**"So Quigley would really love to see that research."**

**The young lady nodded. "I'd say he'd give up ten years of his life to see it."**

**[i]…or forever hold their peace.[/i]**

**"THEY CAN'T GET MARRIED," someone shouted from the back of the audience.**

**Every face turned to look at Michael. The preacher stood in stunned silence, his mouth open as though time had just caught him in mid sentence. Liz looked like she might faint, and Quigley looked like he'd like to commit a murder. For a moment no one spoke, then Michael said,**

**"James Quigley is already married… to my… sister."**

**There was a collective gasp in the audience, and the preacher looked as though he might also faint. Liz put her hands over her face and started to sob then ran down the aisle and out of the garden.**

**"I'm sorry, Liz," Michael whispered under his breath. Then he turned and walked briskly from the garden in the direction Liz had gone. He hadn't gone far before Jeff Parker caught up with him.**

**"You'd better start explaining yourself right now," he said to Michael. "And if I find out what you just said back there isn't true, there's not going to be any hole anywhere deep enough for you to hide in!"**

**"Liz was making a mistake," Michael said quietly to Jeff Parker.**

**"Then it was her mistake to make!" Jeff said. "For God's sake, I know Quigley's not a shining trophy, but my daughter is thirty-five, and she's never looked at another man before. The only thing that's ever interested her was her work. Let her get married!"**

**"She was supposed to fall in love and marry for true love… not marry some guy that just wants to use her… steal her life's work."**

**Jeff seemed slightly taken aback. "I… I don't know that he has the wrong motives. He says he loves her."**

**"She's not supposed to love him. She's supposed to love… someone else."**

**"Oh," Jeff said, nodding. "And that, I suppose, would just happen to be you, right?"**

**"No! No! …No way! Not me! …Max!"**

**"Max? Who's Max?"**

**Michael sighed and looked around. So far no one else had found them.**

**"Max is someone she met in high school. He's, uh… an alien."**

**"An illegal Mexican?"**

**"No. Further away." Michael pointed up at the sky. Jeff huffed. "Is that what this is all about? You're one of those UFO freaks? Can't you leave us alone? I thought we got away from you guys when we left Roswell."**

**"When you sold Brody Davis the CrashDown?" Michael asked.**

**"How'd you know about that?"**

**"I lived there, too. You see, I'm also… one of them."**

**"You're going to tell me you're an alien?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Oh, sweet mother of God! What did I ever do wrong in my life to deserve this," Jeff said with resigned desperation, throwing his hands in the air. Michael reached over and passed his hand over Jeff's tuxedo top, turning it into chain mail. The extra weight of the metal almost dragged Jeff down, but he managed to regain his balance.**

**"How the heck did you just do that?" **

**"Like this," Michael said, touching Jeff's pants and turning them into chain mail, too.**

**Jeff looked at his metal tuxedo, and his eyes grew noticeably larger. "You… you'd better change this back before someone finds us and sees this… Besides, I can't move my legs or arms!"**

**"You're not going to hit me are you?"**

**"I'm thinking about it! I'm really thinking about it!" Jeff looked at his tux again and tried to move one leg. "Alright, I won't hit you. Change it back."**

**Michael passed his hand swiftly over Jeff's tux, changing the top and the pants back to their original fabric.**

**"Mister Parker, I know you don't understand why I just did what I did, stopping this wedding back there and all, but there really was a good reason. It's just… very hard to explain."**

**"Try."**

**Michael nodded. "Time got screwed up somehow. I'm not sure myself exactly how it happened… I may have been partly to blame. All I know is, in the correct time, Liz married Max, and they were very, very, very happy together and had four children, and if I am to ever have any chance at all of getting Max and Maria and my children back, somehow I've got to make everything right again." As Michael pleaded, he realized that he was remembering things that he had forgotten. It was all coming back to him.**

**Jeff looked at Michael's face, and he saw real desperation. **

**"They were really, really really in love, huh?"**

**"More than you could ever imagine. In our time, Liz and Max practically lived for each other. I've never seen a greater love! …Except mine and Maria's.**

**"Did Liz continue to study and make something out of herself?"**

**Michael nodded.**

**"Was she head of molecular biology research at Harvard?"**

**Michael shook his head. Jeff nodded.**

**"You don't seem upset," Michael said.**

**"Not really. I'm very proud of Liz. Don't get me wrong. What she's accomplished has been a miracle. But what she's given up for it… her life, her family, marriage, children…"**

**"I remember in Roswell you used to run Max off when he'd come to see Liz sometimes."**

**"A man always wants the best for his daughter," Jeff said… "And there is one inalienable fact in life: No guy is ever good enough for another man's daughter."**

**"You seemed all too ready to accept Quigley."**

**Jeff cringed slightly. "Just between you and me, whoever you are…"**

**"Michael."**

**"Well, just between you and me, Michael, I never really liked Quigley. He's a pompous ass, and he doesn't know how to treat a woman."**

**"Why'd you let him marry Liz, then?"**

**"She's thirty-five, Michael! She doesn't need my permission anymore. Don't think I haven't let my feelings be known. Look, we need to find Liz. She's upset. She's gonna need me. I hope Nancy's with her." **

**Jeff turned and walked toward a nearby building, and Michael followed. Jeff found Liz in the church's social hall and hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her. Michael felt terrible as he watched Liz sob with her face buried against Jeff's chest. Then Liz noticed Michael.**

**"What are you doing here? Did you come to rub it in?"**

**"Rub it in? No! I didn't want to hurt you… Believe me! Please!"**

**Liz turned her face back against Jeff's chest and sobbed again.**

**"He wasn't good for you, Lizzie," Jeff said. "You know that as well as I do."**

**"Dad!" Liz exclaimed. Then she settled down unexpectedly. "Maybe you're right, but I've never met anyone I was interested in before. And James was special… He knows more than I do about molecular biology."**

**"You know, somehow I doubt that, Lizzie," Jeff said.**

**Liz smiled slightly. "Aw, Dad… You know… I… I don't think I ever really loved James. All my life, I've never loved any man… well, except you, of course! That's the problem, Dad. I've always felt like the right guy was out there somewhere… just waiting to find me. But he never showed up. I knew that I'd know him when I saw him… But I never saw him. I'm thirty-five, and I've never even looked at another guy… well, except for Kyle when we were in high school, but Kyle was just a fun guy to be with. I didn't 'love' him. You know what I mean?"**

**Jeff nodded. "I think I do."**

**"Is it wrong to feel like that special someone you've waited for all your life is just lost somewhere, and you really want him to find you, but he's just lost in some other dimension or something?"**

**Jeff looked at Michael, and Michael nodded.**

**At that moment, Quigley walked in, but he did not seem inclined to talk. He grabbed Michael and pummeled him in the jaw. Michael barely moved.**

**"Well… Rath you're not," Michael said sarcastically. "But you've got my attention."**

**"How dare you stop my wedding," Quigley raged. "I have a very busy day ahead, and my morning's just been wasted!"**

**"What's so important that you can't wait to get back to it on your wedding day," Michael asked.**

**"That's none of your business! Elizabeth, are we doing this or not? I don't have all day. Either let's get out there, and you tell them this guy was some lunatic and we get married, or I'm out of here."**

**"Bye," Liz said simply.**

**"Oh, no… No! No! No! You are not getting out of this that easy!" Quigley raged on… "You agreed to get married. You can't just back out just like that."**

**Jeff stepped in front of Liz. "She can back out any time she wishes. You heard her. Leave her alone." Without warning or reason, Quigley swung, catching Jeff in the jaw. Jeff went down. Michael ran to his side to help him, and Liz cracked a vase over Quigley's head.**

**"Is that answer good enough for you, James? Get out!" Liz bent down to check her Dad. He seemed to be alright and was already getting back up.**

**Quigley pointed at Michael. "I promise you this! I'm getting someone here arrested before this day is out! Count on it!"**

**"Quigley," Michael said, walking up to him from the side and brushing his arm with both hands, "You've got some lint on you." After brushing Quigley's arm quickly, Michael let his hands drop, "accidentally" letting one hand brush lightly across the front of Quigley's pants and the other across the back of his pants. Quigley's eyes opened wide.**

**"Perv! Geez, Elizabeth, is this who you listen to? When you get your senses back, look me up. Maybe I'll forgive you and we can set a new date. Don't expect a fancy wedding this time, though."**

**"Out!" Jeff yelled, pointing at the door. Quigley turned and left.**

**"I'm sorry, Dad," Liz said.**

**"You don't have anything to be sorry about, Lizzie," Jeff said. "Nothing at all."**

**Hearing a commotion outside, Jeff and Liz walked to the door and looked out. Quigley was running around outside with both hands down inside the front of his pants, scratching vigorously. People were starting to gather to watch, and many of them were laughing. After a few moments, a police car drove up, and two officers got out.**

**"Come on, buddy… Get your hands out of your pants! You can't act like that in public!"**

**"It itches!" Quigley exclaimed, removing one of his hands and sticking it down the back of his pants while the other hand stayed down the front.**

**"I don't care if it itches! Get your hands out! People are watching. Kids are watching!"**

**Quigley pulled his pants off, dropped down to the ground, and started to scootch across the grass on his butt. A good number of the guests were laughing now. Others were just standing with their mouths open.**

**"Mommy," a little boy asked… "Why is that man acting like a dog?"**

**"Don't look, Billy. He's a pervert," she said, turning the boy away from the scene.**

**"Alright, guy, we gave you a warning," the first officer said. He motioned to the other officer, and they picked Quigley up by each arm and stuck him in the squad car, still scratching vigorously.**

**Michael noticed that Liz was smiling now. He smiled, too. "Well, Quigley was truthful about one thing," Michael said. "He did get someone arrested today." **

**tbc**


	25. Rath24

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Ripples in Time**

**Chapter 24**

**XXIV**

**Jeff Parker watched as Michael tried to explain to Liz what he had already told Jeff about Liz being married to Max in the "correct" timeline, having four children –including the triplets- and, as if all that were not enough, living on another planet, because Max is an alien… and the king on his planet.**

**Liz was trying to keep a straight face so that she could still appear angry… or at least hurt… by her wedding day disaster; but as Michael talked on, she kept giggling despite all her efforts not to.**

**"Dad, did you put him up to this? You did, didn't you! You hired him to get me out of marrying James and then told him to say all these things to make me laugh."**

**"No! I swear!" Jeff said, holding his right hand up. "Show her, Michael."**

**Michael reached over and ran his hand over Jeff's tux, changing it into chain mail. Liz and her mother both watched with their mouths open.**

**"How did you do that," Liz asked. "Is that a magic trick?" **

**"No more than this…" Michael said, taking the handkerchief from Liz's hand and turning it into a bouquet of white roses. He handed her the roses, and Liz smelled them…**

**"They're real!"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Did you know that white roses were my favorites?"**

**"Max told me. They're what he threw up to you on your balcony once."**

**"Where'd these come from?"**

**Michael grinned. "I don't know the physics involved. I just do it."**

**Liz looked momentarily dazed. "You know… if you'd allow me to study you… Omigod! I could describe the mechanism that allows you to do this! Do you know what this could mean to the world?"**

**"Yeah," Michael said. "I think I do. Sorry, Liz. I came to try to get you and Max back together not to be the subject of a scientific review."**

**Liz blushed. "I'm… I'm sorry! I didn't mean… you know… Oh geez! You must think I'm terrible."**

**"Naw! No more than any other molecular biology genius head of research at Harvard who needs a life," Michael said with a smile. **

**"You think I don't have a life?" Liz half asked, half stated.**

**"Not like what you had with Max. You said yourself that you felt like the right guy was out there somewhere… just lost in another dimension or something. You said that you always wanted him to come."**

**Liz looked at the roses Michael had handed her. For a moment, she appeared to be lost in her thoughts.**

**"I always did dream that my handsome prince would come one day and whisk me away… but New York or Europe was more what I expected. I never thought that it might be… you know, up there." Liz pointed at the sky.**

**"Well… just don't marry James Quigley," Michael said.**

**Liz half giggled, half sobbed. "I don't know what I was thinking. James was always there… and he kept asking. And he's so brilliant… so good at what he does…"**

**"I wonder if he would be nearly as 'brilliant' without your help," Michael said dryly. **

**Jeff nodded his agreement enthusiastically. "That's what I've been trying to tell her. Quigley needed her to further himself. He can't hold a candle to you, Lizzie! You should have been the one who got that Nobel. You did all the work. It was your research!"**

**"I know, Dad. I've been a real jerk."**

**Jeff shook his head. "No. You could never be that, Liz. Quigley's got the market on that." **

**Liz laughed.**

**"Well," Michael said, "I think Quigley's gonna have a few days, at least, to cool his heels and do some thinking. Maybe he'll realize what he lost."**

**Michael called for the portal, and a silvery doorway appeared. Liz walked over to it and touched it. The surface rippled like tiny waves spreading out from a pebble that had been thrown into a calm lake.**

**"Where does this go," Liz asked, astonished.**

**"Wherever I ask it to take me," Michael said.**

**Liz touched it again and watched the ripples.**

**"It's your portal, Liz," Michael said. "Before time got screwed up, you authorized it to respond to my commands. But it's yours."**

**Michael temporarily dismissed the portal, and it disappeared again.**

**Liz appeared enthralled. "Could it take me to see… Max?"**

**Michael thought a moment. "Well, I guess you could see him in the past… before time got screwed up."**

**Liz was radiant. "I had a better idea in mind."**

**Michael looked at her questioningly.**

**"I was thinking of the future. You do think you're going to succeed, don't you?"**

**Michael paled slightly… "I hope so… I mean… I have to, you know… somehow… I don't know…" **

**"Portal," Liz called. The portal appeared.**

**"It responded to you," Michael gasped… **

**"You said it was mine," Liz replied.**

**"Yeah, it is… well, in the other timeline."**

**"Does that matter?"**

**"Apparently not," Michael said.**

**Liz walked into the portal then turned and smiled. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere anyone."**

**Michael looked at Jeff and Nancy. Jeff looked totally amazed and a bit pale. Nancy just looked as though she thought she might be having some kind of weird dream and might wake up any minute.**

**Suddenly the portal reappeared, and Liz stepped out. Michael noticed immediately that her hair had been let down, and she was wearing new clothes… **

**"Did you find Max?"**

**Liz looked at Michael as though trying to decide what to tell him. **

**"I was warned that I shouldn't say too much about the future, Michael. And I was told to ask you not to go there looking for the ones you're trying to bring back… It could cause the rift in time to increase. But I do have a message for you."**

**"A message?" Michael asked.**

**"Find Alex, Kyle, Jim, Kathleen… and Tess."**

**"And what else," Michael asked."**

**"Just that. You must find those people, and they must want to return."**

**Michael stepped into the portal then looked back at Liz. Liz's face was blank, displaying no emotion at all; but as he turned to leave, he thought he saw just a flicker of a smile cross her face.**

**tbc**


	26. Rath25

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Baby, I'm the Guitar Man**

**Chapter 25**

**XXV**

**"Alex, Kyle, Jim, and Kathleen should all be here on Earth somewhere in this time," Michael thought to himself, as he walked down a quaint little tree-lined road aptly named, "Country Lane," outside of Nashville, Tennessee. "But Tess… How am I going to find Tess? She was one of us. The four of us were never created on Earth in this time, so she won't exist. I already saw Ava on Antar, so Liz couldn't mean for me to find Ava. She said Tess." Michael shook his head and looked at the name over the entrance of the ranch he had come to: **

**                                   ~Sweet Guitar Man-sion~**

**"This must be it," he thought, as he attempted to open the large iron gates. The gates appeared to be locked. Michael thought about using his powers, but he saw someone about a hundred yards away, inside the fence, getting off of a horse. The man patted the horse on the side then rubbed his hand up and down its nose for a moment… then he took out a couple of sugar cubes and held them in his hand, and the horse took them. **

**Michael yelled at the man, but he got no response, though he was pretty sure that the man had seen him. Deciding that he would need to be more direct, Michael called the portal.**

**"I should have told it to take me directly to Alex in the first place instead of saying take me to where Alex lives. That could mean his house, his town, or even his planet. I have to be more precise with my instructions. It would have saved me a walk."**

**Michael stepped into the portal and stepped back out right beside the man who had just got off the horse. The man looked at him. He was obviously surprised, but he hid it pretty well…**

**"Whatever that thing is, I hope you don't market it to the other fans, guy. I'll never get any peace and quiet."**

**"I needed to talk to you," Michael said.**

**"Yeah, they all do," the man replied. "Whatcha want… an autograph? You got a pen?"**

**"No," Michael said… "not an autograph. I want to talk to you, Alex Whitman."**

**Alex stopped what he was doing and looked at Michael. "I haven't heard that name in a long time, stranger. Kinda sounds good, though! I'm Joshua Sweet now; you know, 'The Guitar Man.'"**

**"Yeah, I figured it out," Michael said… "Sweet Guitar Man-sion."**

**Alex chuckled.**

**"So you're some kind of heavy-duty fan. I reckon not one in a hundred fans knows that Joshua Sweet's not my real name… even since the Country Music Awards last month."**

**"I take it you did okay?"**

**Alex smiled and looked at Michael. "Okay, so you're not a fan, I guess… Who are you?"**

**"My name's Michael… Michael Guerin."**

**"Did we ever meet, Michael?"**

**"Yeah, but it was sort of in another lifetime… You know what I mean?"**

**Alex chuckled again. "Yeah, I think I do."**

**"I don't think so," Michael said. "But that's understandable. I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around it, too. Do you remember Liz Parker and Maria DeLuca… from Roswell High?"**

**Alex looked at him. "Liz and Maria? Yeah, sure I remember them! I haven't forgotten my friends just 'cause I got famous. Okay, maybe I don't ever see them anymore… we all moved on in different circles, you know?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"I read something in the papers about Liz attending some big conferences in Norway a few months back… something to do with some research she's working on. She's at Harvard now, I think."**

**"Head of Molecular Biology Research at Harvard," Michael said.**

**Alex seemed impressed. "Well, I always knew she'd go far. I guess Liz and I were the only ones who had a clear idea of where we wanted to go in life… only I chose guitar, and she chose the stars… to study, I mean. Hey, that would make a good song! 'I chose guitar… but you chose the stars," Alex started singing. "I need to work on it a bit. That could be something though, pardner! Thanks!"**

**"Don't mention it," Michael said. "…and I mean that," he thought to himself.**

**"So is that where you got that fancy gadget of yours? Liz made it for you?" Alex asked.**

**"No, not her branch of science."**

**"Oh, well, it looks like a pretty handy gadget anyway."**

**"It has its uses," Michael said. "Like going back and forth to my planet."**

**Alex slowed down then stopped and looked at Michael for a moment…**

**"That's not very nice, pardner, making a musician think his ears are going bad on him. I'm pretty sure you said 'your planet???'"**

**"Yeah, you heard right," Michael said.**

**Alex started to chuckle then began to laugh. "Oh, I get it! Those Candid Camera people put you up to this! I should've known. We pulled a good one on old Dwight Yoakum for them a couple months back. Alright Dwight! You got me back!" Alex laughed. **

**Michael reached up and snapped a twig off the tree they were passing under and passed his hand over it. It turned into a classic-style, rosewood electric guitar. He handed it to Alex. Alex turned it over and examined it from every angle… then he strummed it…**

**"Damn, man! This is good! You couldn't maybe put the name 'Gibson' on it… right here… could you?"**

**Michael passed his hand over the tuning head, and the name 'Gibson' appeared on it. Alex looked at the guitar… then at Michael… then at the guitar… then at Michael…**

**"Listen, you wouldn't be needin' a job with a lot of travel wouldja?"**

**"I've already got that," Michael said.**

**"Oh, yeah… your planet… Long commute?"**

**Michael nodded. "Seven galaxies." **

**"Well, listen, I've got a concert at eight o'clock tonight. Why don't you come? I'll get you in free. We can talk more in my dressing room. I've really gotta go and get ready right now, but I do want to find out why you came here lookin' for me."**

**"Alright," Michael said. "How do I get there?"**

**Alex thought about it. "Never mind. Come with me. You can wait for me in the house and we'll go together in the limo."**

**                                  [center]**********[/center]**

**Michael sat in the front row watching the Dixie Hens and other warm up groups. Everyone seemed pretty quiet and well-behaved for a concert audience. But occasionally someone would scream out, "Where's the Guitar Man? We want Josh!" and the audience would applaud or appear to get anxious. It was starting to get downright noisy, in fact. **

**Michael was just about to stick some paper wads in his ears when, suddenly, the noise level increased by about a hundred fold without warning. Instinctively, Michael dropped the paper wads and ducked, looking around for what had brought on all the screams. Then he realized that it was Alex walking out onto the stage. He had on a cowboy hat and boots, tight jeans, and a fancy shirt. Michael had to admit to himself that he was actually a bit impressed by Alex's gallant look and confidant stride. As Alex walked up to the microphone, he and his backup band launched straight into his big crossover hit, "Sweet Guitar Man," and the crowd went absolutely wild. Michael looked at the roof. He was sure that all this noise would surely bring it crashing down at any moment. Fortunately –or perhaps not- the music was loud enough to be heard over the roar. **

**Soon, the crowd had quieted to only about a category 7 hurricane, as more people began to listen to the song. Michael noticed that, all through the audience, there were girls holding up signs saying, "Marry me, Josh!" "Sweet Josh, Be Mine!" and "Josh, you can play my guitar all night long!" Michael shook his head and finished putting the paper wads in his ears. He could still hear the song… and the screams.**

**As Alex wound up the song, the screams increased in pitch again to a feverish crescendo. Alex smiled and thanked the fans for coming out for him. Once it had quieted down a little, he continued… **

**"I have a new song for you. It hasn't been recorded yet, and the guys and I haven't had much time to practice it, but I'd like to try it out on you all tonight."**

**Apparently, the crowd liked the idea. They went wild again with applause. Alex smiled and nodded at his band, and the guys struck up an intro. Alex picked up the microphone and seemed to look straight into the eyes of every fan there, melting their hearts, as he began to sing…**

**_I don't know your name… Don't know who you are_**

**_You came in a dream from some place very far._**

**_I still see your face, I still feel your hands,_**

**_I remember your grace, _**

**_As in the summer night we danced._**

**_Our passions were aflame… We gazed together at the stars_**

**_And though I don't know your name, Darling…_**

**_You belong in my heart…_**

****

**_But if you were from Venus, then I was from Mars…_**

**_It seems that between us we were a universe apart_**

**_It's not what I wanted… I know you felt it, too…_**

**_Our hearts were haunted… _**

**_We were both left feelin' blue._**

**_But it'll always be us… living here in my heart_**

**_Though I hold this guitar, Darling… _**

**_And you hold the stars._**

****

**_Oh, it was sta-a-a-r-gazing with you I fell in love_**

**_You must have been an angel sent from Heaven up above!_**

**_I don't know where you are or even if you're real…_**

**_But when you walked into my dream, I knew,_**

**_My heart you came to steal._**

****

**_You were far more than a vision… Something pulled out of the air_**

**_Our hearts were in collision… You were the answer to my prayers _**

**_If this guitar that I hold… could even start to take your place_**

**_I'd never let it go, _**

**_And my blues I'd all erase_**

**_But like every good dream… fairies n' unicorns so rare…_**

**_The sun a new day brings, and you just disappear…  _**

**_For my life's in this guitar, Darling,_**

**_And yours is in the stars._**

****

**_I could never love another… since you brightened up my sky_**

**_My aching heart just flutters… like the stars twinkling on high_**

**_And I stare up at the heavens… where I'm certain you must live_**

**_I know I must have rolled all sevens… _**

**_To win a dream that felt like this_**

**_You're my star lover… You're my angel in the sky_**

**_You make me st-st-stutter… You make me want to sigh_**

**_So why am I holdin' this guitar, Darling,_**

**_When you're sittin' on a star?_**

****

**_Oh, it was sta-a-a-r-gazing with you I fell in love_**

**_You must have been an angel sent from Heaven up above!_**

**_I don't know where you are or even if you're real…_**

**_But when you walked into my dream, I knew,_**

**_My heart you came to steal. _**

****

**_Sta-a-a-r-gazing with you I fell in love  _**

**_When you walked into my dream, I knew,_**

**_My heart you came to steal._**

**"Thank you! Thank you!" Alex said, smiling, as the crowd went wild with applause. "That was called 'Stargazing.' I guess you can look for it on our next CD. What do you think? Should we record it?"**

**The audience let out such a round of applause, whistles, and screams that Michael had to cover his ears with his hands on top of the wads of paper he had already put in his ears. Alex went on to play fifteen other songs from his various hit CD's, and the crowd kept screaming and applauding from the beginning to the end. After ending the concert, Alex sang three encores for the crowd, who just wouldn't stop applauding; but finally, he had to call an end to it and return to his dressing room. Michael was waiting there. He could still hear the screams and applause all the way from back here in the back of the building.**

**"So what'd you think," Alex asked Michael. "Did it go alright?"**

**Michael cupped his hand beside his ear… "Huh?"**

**"I said, 'how'd you like it?"**

**"Huh?"**

**Alex grinned and pushed Michael's hand away from his ear. "Yeah, they can be a little loud, can't they? But it's good to feel appreciated."**

**Michael smiled and nodded. "So you've really made it, huh, Alex? They loved you out there! What would you rather have really… this… or what you were singing about in that new song?"**

**"In _Stargazing?"_**

**"Yeah."**

**Alex smiled. "I've had the fame. It's great, but it doesn't keep me warm at night… well, not the same way…"**

**"Why do I get the idea, Alex, that that was more than just a song? What if I told you I knew who that girl was… the one who walked into your dream?"**

**Alex looked at Michael. At first, it appeared that he was going to make a joke, but something seemed to be telling him that Michael wasn't joking.**

**"Alright… Anyone else, I'd say they were just guessing… but someone who can just pop out of thin air like you did back on my ranch… well, I'm listenin'."**

**"Her name's Isabel."**

**Alex's eyes grew larger, and his face softened. "So you really do know her?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Who is she? Why did she come into my dream like that? Why have I never seen her again? How can I find her?"**

**"Whoa! One question at a time, Alex!" Michael laughed. "She's Isabel Evans."**

**"I don't know an Isabel Evans. She told me her name was Isabel in the dream, though."**

**"She has… had… the ability to enter people's dreams," Michael said.**

**"What do you mean, 'had,'" Alex asked. "She doesn't anymore?"**

**"She doesn't exist anymore… not in time as we know it. I think somehow she reached out to you from wherever she is in time. She may not be aware of her own existence, but somehow she seems to still have some awareness of you. Don't ask me to explain that. I have absolutely no clue how it can be. I only know that Kryys –That's my son- told me that he can be here in some kind of way because he's aware of himself while the others are not aware of themselves, so they don't exist."**

**"How can I find her?"**

**"That's why I'm here, really, Alex… to help you find her, and help her find you…"**

**Michael explained to Alex, as best he could, what had happened and told him about the life that he and Isabel had had together in their own time… on Antar.**

**"So, what you're sayin' is, this time I'm in here is some kind of unreal time or something," Alex asked.**

**"Oh, it's real enough, Alex," Michael said. "It's just not what was meant to be. It's like digging a canal from a river to somewhere else. The new waterway is real enough. It just isn't the way it was originally meant to be. You could go on living in this time."**

**"I don't want to," Alex said. "If I had the life you told me about with Isabel… I don't want this. I want that life. How can I get it back?"**

**"I'm not sure. What I do know is that I have to make everyone aware of their other life, and they have to want it to make it happen again… and I have to keep my memories of everyone alive… or that other life will disappear forever, and this one will be the only one."**

**"Wait a minute," Alex exclaimed. "I've got lots of pictures of me around here! I'm giving them out all the time! I'll give you one. You keep looking at it! Promise me! Don't forget my face!"**

**Michael laughed. "I'm starting to remember a lot of things again that I had nearly forgotten. I guess that's why Liz told me I had to find you. Now I've gotta go find Kyle."**

**"Kyle… Valenti? The sheriff's son… from Roswell?"**

**"One and the same."**

**"Was he up there, too?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Did he marry that new girl… what was her name… Tess? They seemed to be getting pretty hot there for awhile?"**

**"No. How do you know about Tess? She was one of the four royals. Her DNA wouldn't have been brought to Earth, since Ava was never killed. So she shouldn't have existed in this time."  
  
**

**"Well, there was somebody named Tess at Roswell High. A blonde… sort of a bombshell… you know? Good-looker."**

**"Sounds like Tess," Michael said. "She didn't have any powers?"**

**"What kind of powers?"**

**"You know, like warping minds or putting broken pottery back together?"**

**Alex looked at Michael strangely. "Tess? No way!" Alex laughed.**

**"How can it be the same Tess," Michael wondered. "But it must be… Who else could it be?"**

**"Will I see you again," Alex asked.**

**"Well, let's hope so," Michael said, "…either in this time or in the original one."**

**Michael called for the portal… As it appeared, he stepped in then was gone. Alex waved. Then he sat down and picked up his guitar, with thoughts of Isabel running through his mind…**

**_I could never love another… since you brightened up my sky_**

**_My aching heart just flutters… like the stars twinkling on high_**

**_And I stare up at the heavens… where I'm certain you must live_**

**_I know I must have rolled all sevens… _**

**_To win a dream that felt like this_**

**_You're my star lover… You're my angel in the sky_**

**_You make me st-st-stutter… You make me want to sigh_**

**_So why am I holdin' this guitar, Darling,_**

**_When you're sittin' on a star?_**

****

**_Oh, it was sta-a-a-r-gazing with you I fell in love_**

**_You must have been an angel sent from Heaven up above!_**

**_I don't know where you are or even if you're real…_**

**_But when you walked into my dream, I knew,_**

**_My heart you came to steal. _**

****

**_Sta-a-a-r-gazing with you I fell in love  _**

**_When you walked into my dream, I knew,_**

**_My heart you came to steal._******

**tbc**


	27. Rath26

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Be Careful What You Ask For**

**Chapter 26**

**XXVI **

**Michael had asked the portal to take him to where Alex was, and the portal had taken him to Nashville. Michael had wound up walking down a country road for about a half a mile before he found Alex's ranch. Determined to be the master of the portal and not let it get the best of him, he made his command much more specific this time…**

**"Take me face to face with Kyle Valenti."**

**Michael stepped out of the portal and was immediately lifted off the ground by a force that felt like a charging rhinoceros. When he had got his breath back, he looked up and saw that someone was leaning over him.**

**"Where did you come from," the still-hazy figure asked. "I didn't see you. I was aiming for the quarterback."**

**"Ooooooh," Michael moaned. "Now I remember why I really needed Max back! He can heal broken bones!"**

**The hazy figure laughed. "You don't have any broken bones. I checked. Just got the wind knocked out of you. You should be okay in a few minutes. Where did you come from? I just looked up, and there you were between me and the quarterback.**

**"Kyle?" Michael managed to ask, as his vision began to clear.**

**"Okay, you know me, so who are you?"**

**"Michael Guerin."**

**"Don't remember you," Kyle said. "Should I?"**

**"Probably not. Aren't you a little old to be playing professional football, Kyle?"**

**Kyle laughed. "I gave up professional football twelve years ago. Got a serious knee injury. It healed, but my game never did after that. Now I'm a trainer. Maybe I can't hit as hard as I used to, but…"**

**"Yeah," Michael said, "I was asking myself if that was the best you could do."**

**"Yeah, sure you were," Kyle grinned. "Looked more like you were asking yourself if you were going to live!" **

**Michael grinned, too. "Okay, I admit… you still hit pretty hard, Kyle."**

**"So tell me again… where did we meet?" **

**"Roswell High… but you won't remember me," Michael replied.**

**"You're right about that. I don't. Were you in my class?"**

**"Yeah. So were Alex Whitman, Liz Parker, and Maria DeLuca."**

**"That's funny. I remember all of them, but I still don't remember you."**

**"You know, Kyle, as much as I enjoy just lying here on the ground looking up at you like this," Michael said with a touch of sarcasm, "could we just go somewhere and talk after you're finished here?"**

**Kyle thought about it a moment. He didn't remember Michael, but he did remember Alex, Liz, and Maria… and this guy did say he knew them…**

**"Yeah, okay, I guess we could. Just give me a few minutes to wrap things up here. The practice is over really." **

**Kyle helped Michael up and over to the benches. A few minutes later, he headed to the lockers to shower and change then met Michael back at the benches.**

**"There's a great Chinese restaurant over here on Second Street and Elm. You like Chinese?"**

**"Sounds fine," Michael said.**

**"You want to go with me or do you have transportation," Kyle asked.**

**"We better go in your car, I guess," Michael said. Then he stopped and thought a moment.**

**"On second thought, Kyle, I'll take my transportation. And you can go with me."**

**"Oh, well, I don't know about leaving my car here…"**

**"What's this place called?"**

**"The Dragon Empress."**

**Michael grinned slightly and called for the portal. Suddenly, Kyle was faced with something that looked eerily like a wall of smooth water or perhaps a liquid mirror standing upright in front of him.**

**"What the… What the hell is that?"**

**"That's my transportation," Michael said. "Portal, take my friend and me to the front door of the Dragon Empress Chinese Restaurant on Second Street and Elm." Michael gave Kyle a gentle push into the portal and followed him through. They stepped out at the front door of the restaurant. Kyle watched the portal disappear with his mouth still hanging open.**

**"Okay, I want to know how that just happened," he said when he got his voice back. "What was that thing? How does it work?"**

**"All in good time, Kyle," Michael said with a smile. "I figured this would help me establish credibility for what I have to tell you. You might not believe me."**

**"What? You think I'm not a trusting guy?"**

**"You said it, Kyle, not me."**

**Kyle nodded. "I can be hard to convince. If you'd told me about that… that… whatever it was, I wouldn't have believed you."**

**"Well, there you are. Credibility, see? Now that that's established, we can proceed to the really important stuff."**

**"What's that," Kyle asked.**

**"Dinner," Michael said, opening the door and showing Kyle in. "I just realized that I'm hungry and haven't eaten all day."**

**                                          ************

**"So you knew Liz and Maria… and Alex," Kyle said to Michael, as they both returned from the buffet with egg rolls, snow peas, and other traditional Chinese favorites on their plates.**

**"Yeah."**

**"Pretty well?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"That's odd that I can't remember you. How well did you know me?"**

**"Very well," Michael said. **

**Michael told Kyle a few of the things he remembered about him from high school. "That does bring up an issue, though," he said "that I'm not clear on."**

**"What's that," Kyle asked.**

**"Tess. I heard you two were going together."**

**"Yeah… everyone knew that. If you knew me in high school, you should've known it, too."**

**"Yeah, I did know it. The trouble is, I don't understand it."**

**"Oh, common, guy! What's to understand? Good lookin' girl… football jock. What? You think she wouldn't be interested in me?"**

**"No, no! It's not that! I think I'd better explain a few things to you. Let me just finish this Egg Drop soup." Michael took a bottle of Tabasco out of his pocket and poured half of it into his soup. Then he finished off the soup and proceeded to tell Kyle about the time screw-up and his former life on Antar. Kyle sat looking at Michael with a bemused sort of look.**

**"Okay, Michael, when I think of time changing, I think of, like, Daylight Savings Time, you know, not rivers going wrong and stuff. How does one screw up time, anyway? I didn't even know you could do that!"**

**"Well, it's not easy," Michael said "but it can happen. I could be here all day trying to explain how, because I don't understand it so well myself. Let's save that talk for another time, okay? What I need to know is… how happy are you with your life, Kyle?"**

**"Very," Kyle answered.**

**"But if you could be married to Jeliya and have a great life on Antar… with your children and friends… wouldn't that be better?"**

**"I don't remember any of that. I'm not really sure I even believe it, if you really want to know the truth. You've got that fancy gizmo that can transport you across town in a flash, and I'm impressed… and I don't know who but an alien would pour half a bottle of Tabasco in Egg Drop soup, but you're asking me to believe that my whole life –as I remember it- has all been just a dream or something."**

**"No, not a dream," Michael said. "It's real… not a dream at all. You could go on living this life the way it is if you choose to, and it will be real… but there is another life out there that you could return to… I hope we all can… one that you've forgotten. Well, maybe forgotten isn't exactly accurate. Technically, it's more like it never existed for you. But it did exist in time, and you may be able to return to it. But you have to want to."**

**"No offense, Michael, but why would I want to do that… I mean… even if I believed that I could… or that that life really did once exist? I've got everything I ever wanted here. I got to play in the pros for three years before my knee got hurt. Now I make some pretty serious money as a trainer. People know me… They respect me… Okay, maybe my one marriage didn't work out, but we were young. It just wasn't meant to be. And it's not like I don't have girls interested in me. I date… all the time! I have a great life, Michael. Tell me why I should give it up!"**

**"Maybe because you could do better," a voice behind Kyle said. Kyle jumped and turned around to see who it was. A young lady standing behind him smiled and winked at Michael.**

**"Liz? Liz Parker?" Kyle exclaimed, "Where did you come from? I haven't seen you since…  since Roswell! You look great!"**

**"Thanks, Kyle… Michael!" Michael seemed to be almost as stunned as Kyle by Liz's unexpected appearance.**

**"I thought you might need a little help," Liz said to Michael. "Kyle can be pretty bullheaded."**

**"Oh thanks, Liz," Kyle said. "Does the whole world know it?"**

**Liz smiled and ran a hand over Kyle's head, mussing his hair up. "[b]I[/b] know it. I went out with you a few times."**

**Kyle grinned. "Okay, yeah, I can be, sometimes, a bit bullheaded, I guess. But that's just because I know what I want… and I was a jock. It was part of our contract: section 1b, part 7 of the jock agreement… 'All jocks are entitled to whatever they want.'"**

**Liz gave Kyle a little whack on the back of the head.**

**"Obviously you never read my contract, Liz," Kyle said, straightening his hair with his fingers.**

**"Obviously you never read mine, Kyle."**

**"What contract do science preppies get, Liz?"**

**"Science preppie contract, section 3a, part 1c and amendments… 'Girls aspiring to be head of molecular biology research at Harvard are specifically exempt from section 1b, part 7 of the jock clause.'"**

**"I never heard of that," Kyle said.**

**"Neither did I," Michael said. "I never knew these contracts existed." **

**Kyle and Liz both laughed. "I was joking, Michael," Liz said with a smile.**

**"I wasn't," Kyle said. Liz whacked him again on the back of the head.**

**"You always were the rebel, Liz," Kyle said, straightening his hair again.**

**"Yeah, it kept me out of trouble, Kyle… with jocks like you. That and the Pater Nostrum contract."**

**"Okay, what's the Pater Nostrum contract?"**

**"It says that at any time on any date any daughter can consider the entire jock contract null and void and use her power of adjudication to return home forthwith."  
  
**

**"Power of adjudication?"**

**Liz showed Kyle a quarter.**

**"Oh! That's a tough contract!"**

**"Talk to my Dad about it."**

**Kyle laughed and nodded. "How did you get here, Liz? I didn't know you were in town."**

**"I wasn't. Michael told me that the portal had been mine in the other time, and I decided to try it and found out that I can still use it here, too."**

**"I've created a portal monster," Michael said. "Have you eaten, Liz?"**

**"Yeah, thanks. I'm not hungry. I just came to give you a little support."**

**"Well, I seem to need it. Kyle doesn't want any other life but the one he knows."**

**"Hey. It's a great life," Kyle said. "Why fix it if it ain't broken? You know what I mean? I like my life!"**

**"What would convince you, Kyle," Liz asked.**

**"Nothing, Liz. I really, really like my life just as it is right now, right here. I don't see any reason to risk all of this searching for some unseen idyllic Eden."**

**"Then there's nothing we can do to convince you?"**

**Kyle shook his head. "Sorry, Liz. I like my life."**

**"What does that mean," Michael asked Liz. "You're the one who went to the future, Liz. If Kyle doesn't want to return, what's gonna happen?"**

**"There'll be no Kyle in your world. But all that is assuming, of course, that any of us will be there," Liz said. "We don't know that for a certainty, you know. You still have to change what happened. If you're successful in that and Kyle doesn't wish to return, he'll remain where he is. He won't exist in your branch of time."**

**"And Jeliya?"**

**"She'll marry someone else, I imagine."**

**"You'd give up your children, Kyle?" Michael asked.**

**"No, of course not! But you said, yourself, they don't exist. What you're talking about is some pie in the sky… It's not real. It's something you want to create. And I'm happy here where I am."**

**"Okay, Kyle," Liz said. "We wish you were going to be there, but if this is what you really want, I understand."**

**"Thanks," Kyle said. "If I ever change my mind, I'll look you up, Michael."**

**"It doesn't work that way, Kyle," Michael said. "I guess this is good bye."**

**Kyle nodded.**

**Michael placed a couple of bills on the table in front of Kyle to pay his part of the check. Then he shook Kyle's hand and walked out with Liz. Once outside, he called the portal, and they both stepped through together.**

**"Well, you're back home, Liz. I'll leave you and go see what I can do with Jim. But I doubt Jim's gonna want to go if Kyle's not going to be there."**

**Liz nodded. "I'm afraid you're right, Michael… But try anyway. Maybe if Jim would go, Kyle might change his mind."**

**Both of them knew that the likelihood of convincing Jim Valenti, under the circumstances, was not good. But Michael called the portal again. Then he waved at Liz and stepped through.**

**tbc**


	28. Rath27

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Sheriff**

**Chapter 27**

**XXVII **

**Stepping out of the portal, Michael found himself in a vacant quarry. He looked around but saw no one. In fact, the place virtually exuded an eerie, almost surreal emptiness of sound or life of any kind. Not even a bird or a cricket seemed to be around to break the silence. **

**"That's odd. I distinctly asked the portal to take me to Jim Valenti."**

**Suddenly, the silence was broken by a gunshot… then a sound like something hitting the ground. Michael hurried to where the sound had come from and saw something… apparently a body… in the quarry. Half climbing, half sliding down the rocky slope, he made his way to the unmoving man below. As he turned him over, he gasped…**

**"Jim!"**

**Michael lifted his hand and saw blood on it. He tore at Jim's shirt and saw that Jim had been shot. Pressing two fingers to the carotid artery on Jim's neck, Michael felt for a heartbeat. Feeling none, he began to give CPR, alternately pounding on Jim's chest and breathing into his mouth. But after a couple of minutes, he knew that Jim was beyond his help. He was dead. **

**In the eerie quietness that seemed to come over everything again, Michael heard a gun click behind his head. He spun around and blasted the bullet out of the air at the very moment that the shooter pulled the trigger. But if the shooter was astonished, Michael was equally at a loss for words. He stood there for several moments, his hand still in the air and his mouth open in shock…**

**"You?"**

**"Shut up and put your hands up over your head where I can see them, alien!"**

**"What the hell! No! No way! In case you didn't notice, your bullet just got blasted out of the frikkin' air. You're not the one in control here," Michael said displaying the palm of his hand menacingly. "You even move again and you'll be vaporized before you know what happened!"**

**"Just shut up," Kathleen said, edging down the quarry toward Michael. "I'm the one with the gun here."**

**"It might as well be a pea-shooter," Michael reminded her.**

**Kathleen frowned. "Alright, so you've got powers… but can you stop a barrage of bullets? This pistol's automatic. It's the equivalent of an UZI. Do you know what that is? If I wanted you dead, you would have been."**

**Kathleen pulled out a walky-talky and balanced it against one ear as she held her gun trained on Michael with the other hand. "I'm calling for backup."**

**Faster than Kathleen saw it coming, Michael blasted the gun out of her hand and the walky-talky out of her other hand. Kathleen let out a small scream. Michael was unsure if it was from the surprise or from the heat of his blasts, one of which had clearly burned her gun hand.**

**"Sorry, but I can't let you do that."**

**"That was government equipment," Kathleen exclaimed threateningly. Then taking stock of her situation, she asked, "Are you going to kill me, too?" She wasn't sure why she bothered to ask. Of course, he was going to kill her. She knew that. She was at his mercy; and if there was one thing she had been taught in the unit, it was that these aliens did not know the meaning of the word mercy.**

**"What do you mean, 'too?'" Michael asked. "You're the freak that shot Valenti! Not me!"**

**"I didn't shoot him," Kathleen said. "I heard a gunshot, and when I got over here, you were standing over him."**

**"But I don't have a gun," Michael said. "You do."**

**Kathleen looked at her burned hand.**

**"Okay, you did," Michael corrected.**

**"So did he," Kathleen said, pointing at Jim. "But I doubt he killed himself. Somebody killed him."**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah… so if it wasn't me… and it wasn't you… Who was it?"**

**"The aliens," Kathleen said, still looking at Michael with suspicion. "You… or one of your buddies."**

**"Who taught you to be so afraid of things you don't understand," Michael asked. "Was it the secret alien unit that you work for?"**

**"You seem to know a lot about me. Too bad I don't know as much about your kind," Kathleen replied sullenly. I didn't get into this unit to kill e.t.'s, but I've been shown what your kind has done. I've seen pictures of the handprints on mutilated bodies. I've heard about your ruthlessness… I've seen it. Why shouldn't I be… cautious?" Kathleen reached down at her feet and picked up a piece of something that looked like skin. It vanished in her hand. Michael's jaw dropped a couple of inches…**

**"Skins? Here? But if the royal four were never here in this time… why skins? What did they come here for?"**

**"Don't play the innocent," Kathleen said. "An Earthling wouldn't be able to put that 'I'm so innocent' crap over on me, and neither can you."**

**"You weren't afraid of me in a different place and time," Michael said.**

**Kathleen scowled and tried to smile to show that she wasn't afraid, but her fear was palpable in spite of her masterful attempt to hide it. **

**"What different place and time?"**

**"I'm going to show you," Michael said. "Portal!" **

**Kathleen gasped, momentarily distracted by the unexpected apparition in front of her, and Michael shoved her into the portal. "The palace on Antar," he said simply.**

**                                          ************

**As the portal disappeared, Kathleen looked around her at the now alien landscape. In some ways, it was not too unlike what she was familiar with on Earth, but there were differences. For one thing, in the distance, she could see an ocean… a golden colored ocean. And in the sky, she thought she saw more than one moon. And in both directions, extending outward like the sides of a large "V" from the planet she was on, she saw several other planets lined up, faintly but clearly visible even in the daylight. **

**"What did you do to me? Where am I? Why did you kidnap me?"**

**"I think it's called 'abduction' when we do it, isn't it," Michael asked with a touch of sarcasm.**

**Kathleen nodded. "So why did you abduct me? Are you going to tie me up and torture me?"**

**"Don't tempt me," Michael said. "Actually, I needed to bring you here to show you that we're not monsters. We're just like you. We're not on Earth to hurt anyone."**

**"You could've fooled me," Kathleen said with a bit of forced bravado. "What about the mutilated bodies? The handprints?"**

**Michael shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe the skins… I don't know…"**

**"What's a skin? You keep saying that."**

**"That piece of skin you found… It was from an… alien, I guess… but not like me. They shed their skin, because it was grown for them. They can't live in Earth's atmosphere without a specially-grown 'husk.'"**

**"You're freaking me out," Kathleen said. "And I didn't think anyone could do that! So what you're saying is that there are bad aliens and good aliens? You expect me to believe that?"**

**"Aren't there bad Earthlings and good Earthlings?"**

**Kathleen thought about it a moment. "I guess so."**

**"Of course there are! You know there are! Why wouldn't aliens be the same?"**

**"Because they're aliens," Kathleen said. "Because they're all here to infiltrate us and take over our planet…"**

**"Here? Your planet?"**

**Kathleen looked around and paled slightly. "Well, not here, I guess… Earth, I mean. Where are we?"**

**"Antar," Michael said. "My planet. You like it?"**

**"How did we get here? How do I get back?"**

**"I thought you didn't believe in alien mercy. You think I'm going to send you back?"**

**Kathleen shook her head, and Michael suddenly realized that she really did not expect to survive this, much less ever return home. Suddenly, he felt an uncomfortable streak of compassion for this person who had threatened to shoot him just minutes before.**

**"Listen," Michael said, opening the door of the palace that led to the terrace on which they had appeared, "You must be thirsty. Let's go inside."**

**Kathleen still did not trust Michael, but she was pragmatically resigned to her fate, whatever that might be. She followed Michael into the palace. Michael led her to the foyer where Zan and Ava were sitting together on a sofa reading the daily CoruzAntar newspaper.**

**"Zan… Ava…" Michael said in Antarian. "We have a visitor… from Earth."**

**"Urth?" Zan repeated, looking up at Kathleen.**

**"Eluymer," Michael corrected.**

**"Sit down! Sit down!" Zan said to Kathleen in Antarian. She didn't understand, but Ava rushed to get Kathleen a pillow to lean on, and Kathleen sat down and nodded gratefully.**

**"This is Kathleen Topolsky of Eluymer," Michael said. Then to Kathleen, he said, in English, "Kathleen, this is Zan, the King of Antar, and Ava, the Queen of Antar."**

**Kathleen was initially stunned but then found her voice… "Oh, uh, thank you… It's a pleasure… I think… your majesties."**

**Zan smiled. "Did she come willingly, Michael? She looks scared… and her hand appears to be burned."**

**Michael shrugged. "I had some things to prove to her. It was the only way I knew how. Maybe you could look at her hand?" **

**Zan reached out and took Kathleen's hand in his own left hand. She reflexively pulled back, but he calmly took it again and placed his right hand over the top of it. As he did, her hand began to glow with a greenish light, and the pain of the burn –and all the redness- disappeared as she watched.**

**"Thank you," Kathleen managed to say with quiet shock in her voice, as she looked at her hand and saw that it no longer had a trace of a burn on it. **

**"Kathleen and I have been a bit parched by the afternoon sun on Eluymer, and we're both very thirsty. If you'll forgive me, Zan, I'll go get us something to drink."**

**Ava was up in a flash. "I'll do that, Michael. You relax with your guest." Ava rushed off toward the dining area and returned in no time with two large glasses of yellow water.**

**"What's this?" Kathleen asked, looking at it suspiciously; but her thirst got the better of her, and she sipped it without waiting for an answer. Michael translated Kathleen's question. **

**"It's water," Ava said. "It's directly from the Golden Sea… but don't worry… It's been desalinated. The Golden Sea water is the purest and best that exists."**

**Michael translated Ava's remarks for Kathleen, but she had already finished the water and was asking for more.**

**"I guess you've never seen yellow water before," Michael said with a smile.**

**"Sure I have," Kathleen said between gulps, "but I wouldn't have drank it!"**

**Michael chuckled. "Well, where I came from, I would have offered you a glass of iced tea, but since I never grew up on Earth in this time, Antarians have never seen tea and haven't developed a taste for it or synthesized it here. So you get yellow water."**

**"It's great!" Kathleen exclaimed. "Yellow or not, it's the best water I've ever had!"**

**"You're not afraid we'll poison you?" Michael asked.**

**"Well… if you're going to then you're going to… and I'm thirsty. I might as well enjoy it. It tastes divine! At least I won't die thirsty."**

**"It is good," Michael agreed. "I've got to get the process for desalinizing it when I return. We drank spring water where I came from. It's clear… like Earth water. But this is really good!"**

**Kathleen finished her second glass of water and leaned back thankfully on the pillow. Then she looked at Zan and Ava… and at Michael.**

**"Why did you bring me here," she asked Michael. "If you're not going to torture me or kill me or study me… what do you want with me? I'm being treated like a guest… I don't understand."**

**Michael translated Kathleen's remarks for Zan and Ava, and Ava replied in Antarian.**

**"She said that you are a guest," Michael translated for Kathleen. "As long as you're here, you'll be treated well… as a guest."**

**"Why," Kathleen asked again.**

**"You wanted to shoot me back there," Michael said, "and I couldn't let you do that."**

**"Well, I know that, but you could have just killed me."**

**"Yeah… I could have." Michael nodded. "But that would have just messed up my plans something terrible."**

**Kathleen looked at Michael quizzically. "What plans? You have plans for me?"**

**"Yeah. It's probably a good thing that you're sitting down and have a pillow behind you, Kathleen, because what I'm going to tell you could be hard to believe… for you."**

**"What?" Kathleen looked at him suspiciously.**

**"In a different… branch of time, I guess you'd call it… I grew up on Earth. So did Zan and Ava here. We were teenagers going to Roswell High School, and you were… well, doing what you're doing now… working for the FBI trying to catch aliens… us. But in that branch of time, you found out what the Unit was really doing to us, and you tried to help us. This got you locked up in an insane asylum where no one could ever find you again but your ex-associates. And they did torture you. Ava rescued you. She was a teenager then… Now, in this timeline, she and Zan are in their nineties. That's a whole story in itself, though."**

**Kathleen gasped. "You mean I let you run to get me a glass of water and you're ninety-something? How old do you live to be?"**

**Michael translated, and Ava smiled. "We're quite fit, thank you. And we could live to a maximum of two hundred fifty or so… if we're lucky. The average is closer to two hundred. We're almost in the middle."**

**"Not quite yet," Zan corrected her. **

**Ava smiled again. "Zan will never admit that he is getting older. He still rides his yoriths and goes fishing in the Stareen River at least a few days each month. We both stay active."**

**Michael translated again for Kathleen, and she shook her head incredulously.**

**"If Ava rescued me in this other time your talking about… what became of me? I know the people I work with. I wouldn't have been able to just reappear in society."**

**"No, you couldn't. That's why Ava… We called her Tess there… brought you here to Antar. You married Jim Valenti and you made your lives here."**

**"Wait… Wait a minute! I married Jim Valenti? Sheriff Valenti?"**

**"Yeah."**

**Kathleen laughed. **

**"What's so funny," Michael asked.**

**"Me marrying Valenti! Well, I guess he is kind of good looking… and I have been trying to get closer to him. But it was to get information… you know?"**

**"Was it?" Michael asked.**

**"Yeah," Kathleen said. But as she thought about it, she knew that that wasn't entirely true. She did like Jim. But it was too late now…**

**"Jim's dead," Kathleen said.**

**"Maybe," Michael agreed.**

**"No maybes," Kathleen said. "I saw him… I know dead when I see it. Jim was dead. Unless… you can bring him back like you healed my hand…" She looked at Zan.**

**"No." Michael shook his head. "He's dead. In this time, he's not coming back. We can't do that. We don't have that power. Kryys could have done it… if he'd been there… in this time… but he wasn't. He isn't."**

**"If I'm right about where you're going with this," Kathleen said, "you're about to ask me to go with you to some other time or something… ?"**

**"Sort of," Michael agreed, "but not exactly. I'm going to return you to Earth in your own time… exactly where you came from."**

**Kathleen's heart jumped for a moment, but then she was surprised to realize that she actually felt a twinge of regret and sadness that she would be returning to what she had left… Jim was dead. The idea of going somewhere where he might be alive again was oddly enticing even if it did sound totally crazy.**

**"The only thing I need from you," Michael said, "is for you to want the life you had on Antar in my time. You have to want to return."**

**Kathleen was silent for a long time. Then she asked…**

**"Was I happy in your time… with Jim?"**

**Michael smiled. He told her about her son, Danyy, and his pawgor and about Jim's adventures on Antar and how she and Jim had helped save the children from the Ghors. After Michael had finished telling her everything he could think of that might make her want to return, he sat back and watched her face.**

**"What would I have to do to return… you know… to that life," Kathleen asked.**

**"I don't know yet," Michael said honestly. "I just know that you have to be willing to return or you won't. And Jim has to be willing to return."**

**"Well, I think that's probably preferable for him, don't you?"**

**Michael nodded his agreement. "But no one can predict human behavior. He could prefer to be dead rather than go to another planet that he doesn't even remember or know."**

**"Not if I'm there," Kathleen said with a grin. "I think I can say that with some certainty."**

**Michael just smiled.**

**"You ready to go back?"**

**Kathleen nodded. Michael called the portal. Kathleen looked around her and touched Zan and Ava on the hand with a smile. They understood and smiled back at her. Then Kathleen kissed Michael on the cheek quickly and stepped into the portal. **

**tbc**


	29. Rath28

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Tracking Down A Killer**

**Chapter 28**

**XXVIII **

**Kathleen Topolsky stepped out of the portal where she had entered it… at the quarry. She bent over Jim and rolled his face over carefully. She looked at him for a moment… then she kissed him lightly on the forehead.**

**"I really hope you get that second chance, Jim… for both of us," she whispered. She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes and then looked at it, surprised to see that it was moist… that there were actually tears in her eyes. She hadn't realized that Jim's death had affected her this much. Maybe it was because now she knew what they might have had together… in another life. Kathleen gently laid his head back as it had been and stood up. As she turned, she was surprised to see someone pointing a gun at her. And it wasn't an alien.**

**"You going to shoot me, Zwolinski?"**

**"I might… if I find out you're an alien sympathizer… like the sheriff there."**

**"You shot Jim?"**

**"Jim is it? We're getting mighty cozy, aren't we, Topolsky? First name basis and all… What did you and Jim boy have going on?"**

**"Nothing, Zwolinski… nothing you'd understand… If you're going to shoot me, do it. I'm unarmed, as you can see. Shouldn't be a problem for you."**

**Zwolinski scowled. "I didn't come to shoot you, Topolsky. And sorry to have to admit it, but I didn't knock Jim boy there off either."**

**"Who did then?"**

**"I don't know. Maybe one of his alien pals."**

**"Jim didn't know any aliens, Zwolinski."**

**"Shows what you know, Topolsky. You don't have the nose for this that I do."**

**"What aliens?"**

**"That girl over at the high school, for one… the one who was going with a football jock… Her stepfather, for another. And then there was another girl… Courtney or something…"**

**"I don't know anything about them," Kathleen said.**

**"Well, it was a few years back, Topolsky… maybe fifteen years ago."**

**"And you're still holding that against Jim?"**

**"He helped aliens."**

**"Jim Valenti was the sheriff. It was his job to help people."**

**"He knew they were aliens."**

**"Why didn't I know any of this," Kathleen asked.**

**"You're not as good as me… not as thorough. It's that simple. I make it my job to know things." Zwolinski replaced his gun in its holder and climbed back up the side of the quarry.**

**"Well, whatcha waitin' for, Topolsky? You didn't think I was going to carry you out, did you?"**

**"You? Not a chance," Kathleen replied, climbing the side of the quarry with more agility and speed than the aging, but still kicking, Zwolinski had.**

**"We'll need to notify the sheriff's office so they can come and get Jim's… I mean the sheriff's body."**

**"Why?" Zwolinski asked. **

**Kathleen just glared at him without replying.**

**"I know you don't care who killed the sheriff, Zwolinski, but if it's all the same to you, I do. I'm going to look around here and see if there might be any clues. You can slither on back to your den. I guess there's nothing more for you to do here." **

**"That's where you're wrong, Topolsky. See, you're jumping to conclusions again. Matter of fact, I do care who killed the sheriff. Just 'cause he was a no-good traitor doesn't mean any alien scum can just come along and take him out. We'll look for clues together."**

**Kathleen frowned. "And what if it wasn't an alien?"**

**"Still no good. We gotta uphold the law, you know."**

**Kathleen raised her eyebrows a bit but held her tongue.**

**"You look over that way," Zwolinski said. "I'll go the other direction. We can cover more ground that way."**

**Kathleen nodded and headed off in the direction Zwolinski had indicated to her. She was just glad to be away from Zwolinski. He may have been a supervisor in the department, but he was a total jackass to work with, and Kathleen wasn't reluctant to let him know so whenever she felt like it. **

**For the first ten to fifteen minutes, Kathleen saw nothing. Slowly, she began to realize that she also heard nothing. It was eerie. There was no sound at all… not a cricket… not a bird… not even a breeze or a leaf rustling. It just didn't seem natural. A slight shiver ran up Kathleen's spine, and she looked around to make sure that no one was following her. She had a feeling… one that she wouldn't have been able to explain… that she was being watched from somewhere. She looked behind her. Then, as she turned back again, she was hit from behind and knocked to her knees. **

**Looking up, her head still spinning, Kathleen saw that a young woman was now standing there. She had wavy blonde hair and greenish eyes… and in her right hand, there was a length of pipe. **

**"Where did you come from? I just looked, and there was no one behind me. Who are you?" **

**The girl looked at Kathleen for a few moments without answering. Then she laid the other end of the pipe across her open left hand and stared dispassionately at the young woman she had just knocked down…**

**"Tess," she said at last. "It's Tess. I guess it's not going to matter if you know. You won't be leaving here with the information."**

**"Why would you want to kill me," Kathleen asked, trying to make conversation with the girl and perhaps give herself time to think of a way to get out of this mess. Unfortunately, it didn't look like there was much she could do. She could rush the girl, but it didn't look like this girl would be easily caught off guard. She could try reasoning… No, she could tell that that wasn't going to work. Maybe a distraction… if she had one.**

**Kathleen stared past the young woman standing in front of her.**

**"Whatcha lookin' at?"**

**"Nothing."**

**The girl smiled. "I know. You thought I'd think there was someone behind me and look back. It's an old trick… even for a stupid Earthling." **

**"Suit yourself," Kathleen said.**

**The girl looked uneasy for a moment but decided to stand her ground and take the chance that Kathleen was bluffing.**

**"Yeah… I will suit myself," she said, taking the length of pipe on one end with both hands. Kathleen saw it coming and tried to put her hands over her head to protect herself. There was a sickening thud. Kathleen heard it but didn't immediately feel anything. Then she felt someone shaking her. Slowly, she opened her eyes.**

**"Come on, Topolsky! Get up," Zwolinski said, tossing a ten-pound rock down beside her. Kathleen looked at the unmoving girl on the ground.**

**"Is she dead?"**

**Zwolinski felt for a pulse and checked the wound on her head.**

**"Naw… too bad. But then again maybe it's better this way. I'll be able to dissect her while she's still alive."**

**Kathleen looked at Zwolinski and cringed. "Alive?"**

**"Yeah. Don't sweat it. Aliens aren't like us. They don't feel pain or love or anything like that."**

**"I wonder," Kathleen said under her breath.**

**"What? You wonder if they do?"**

**"No. I wonder if you do… if you ever did."**

**"Not that it's any of your damn business, Topolsky, but… yeah, I did… once."**

**"That's a tale I'd like to hear," Kathleen said sarcastically. Zwolinski looked at her for a moment. Then to her surprise, he sat down on the rocks beside her.**

**"You see, Topolsky, I had a mother once… A lot of people don't believe that, but it's true… and a father… and two sisters and an older brother. I was the youngest in my family. When I was seven, I came home from school one day –I was in second grade. It was February 7, a Tuesday… and I found them all –my whole family- murdered."**

**Kathleen gasped and looked at Zwolinski with obvious shock and new compassion in her eyes.**

**"I never knew. I'm so sorry, Zwolinski. That must have been so hard on you… seven years old!"**

**Zwolinski shrugged. "It made me tough. It made me what I am today… driven… to find their murderers… and to avenge my family somehow."**

**"You think aliens murdered your family?"**

**"I know aliens murdered my family. I saw two of them. They killed my mother while I watched… and I couldn't help her. One of them placed his hand on her chest. The air began to glow red around his hand. Then she fell over, and the alien fled out the back door with his companion. I ran to my mother and tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't…"**

**"I'm sorry," Kathleen repeated quietly."**

**"She had a handprint on her chest," Zwolinski continued, "a silver handprint. It was burned right through her dress. The others all had handprints, too. I found them in different parts of the house… all dead."**

**Kathleen touched Zwolinski on the shoulder, but he moved her hand away.**

**"Don't get mushy on me, Topolsky. I've learned to deal with it… and it was a long time ago. Cutting these aliens up is all the therapy I need."**

**"I'm not so sure about that," Kathleen said.**

**"Listen, help me get this girl up to the top, will ya? We need to get back to the lab."**

**Kathleen looked at the blonde girl and at Zwolinski. She couldn't decide which one to help. She wound up taking the girl by one arm, as Zwolinski took her by the other one. Then the two of them climbed out of the quarry with the unconscious girl between them.**

**                                         ************

**"This is wrong, Zwolinski," Kathleen said, removing the surgical mask Zwolinski had given her to put over her face. "You just can't dissect people…"**

**"Aliens," Zwolinski corrected.**

**"Okay, aliens, then. You can't dissect living aliens… beings."**

**"Didn't you dissect a live frog in high school biology class ever, Topolsky?"**

**Kathleen looked at him. "I felt bad about it. I don't… It's not the same, Zwolinski! This isn't a frog!"**

**"Might as well be, Topolsky. Got about as much feelings or right to live as one."**

**"Frogs have a right to live, Zwolinski."**

**"Frogs I don't have a problem with. I don't dissect frogs, Topolsky." **

**Kathleen let out a frustrated sigh. This was getting her nowhere, and Zwolinski was ready to start the dissection.**

**"Take that little suction device over there, Topolsky, and suction out the blood so I can see what I'm doing as I cut."**

**Suddenly, the girl stirred and opened her eyes. She was well restrained, hands and legs securely held by straps attached to the gurney.**

**"Ah, you're awake," Zwolinski said. "Good! You can watch!"**

**Suddenly, as Zwolinski walked toward the gurney, the girl began to change. A strong light filled the room for a moment, and when Zwolinski and Kathleen could see again, the girl was gone. The straps dangled freely at the sides of the bed. Kathleen looked up in time to see a crow squeeze through a narrow opening at the top of a high window in the room then fly away. Zwolinski appeared too shocked to speak. He looked for all the world like a child who had just lost his lollipop.**

**tbc**


	30. Rath29

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Down Came A Blackbird**

**Chapter 29**

**XXIX **

**The girl had escaped, and Kathleen felt somehow oddly relieved. Even though this girl had wanted to kill her, Kathleen was sure that she would not have been able to sleep at nights if Zwolinski had dissected her alive and she had helped. Zwolinski had left the lab in a huff, leaving Kathleen to herself. Kathleen looked around at the instruments… "Zwolinski's toys," she said to herself. She looked at the restraint straps that had held the girl but which now dangled freely beside the gurney. She looked up at the high ventilation window at the top of the room where the girl –or the blackbird she had turned into- had escaped. Even though she was relieved that the girl had escaped, Kathleen felt an uneasy sense of curiosity… What would she have seen if Zwolinski had dissected the girl? What does something that can change from a human into a blackbird look like inside? If the girl had been dead, she might have gone along with Zwolinski willingly… out of sheer curiosity. But she wasn't, and that was the difference. It wasn't an impediment for Zwolinski. For him, the fact that an alien he intended to dissect was still alive was merely icing on the cake. **

**Kathleen took one last look around and walked toward the door. As she did, she heard a sound behind her… the sound of wings flapping. She turned around quickly, in time to see a raven or blackbird swoop down from the ventilation window at the top of the room. It landed on the floor in front of her and immediately morphed into a man.**

**"Who… who are you," Kathleen managed to ask.**

**"My name is unimportant. But since you asked, it is Yali."  
  
**

**"Yali?"**

**"Yes."**

**"I thought you were the girl… Tess… returning," Kathleen said.**

**The man looked around the room then looked back at Kathleen with a strange look in his eyes. Suddenly, he began to morph into a girl with blonde hair and greenish eyes.**

**"Me?"**

**Kathleen nodded. She wanted to speak, but it just didn't come out.**

**"I am the one you saw before."**

**"You're Tess?"**

**"No… not Tess. I merely gave you the name of the person whose appearance I had used." **

**Yali returned to his former appearance.**

**"Are you going to try to kill me again…" Kathleen asked, "because if you are, I think you should know, I can defend myself better here. And you don't have a piece of pipe to hit me with."**

**"No. I'm not going to hurt you. That was a mistake. You are not who I thought you were. I waited until the man with you left. I came back, because I heard you talking to him when I was on the table."**

**"You heard?"**

**Yali nodded. "I pretended to be unconscious while I decided what to do. You didn't want him to kill me… Why?"**

**"You were alive."**

**"I thought that's what killing was… someone has to be alive first."**

**"Well, yes… it is… of course."**

**Yali… or the girl who had called herself Tess… or was she a blackbird… Kathleen wasn't sure anymore… reached up and touched Kathleen's forehead. Kathleen started to recoil but then decided not to. She wasn't sure why. After a moment, Yali removed his hand.**

**"Yes, I can trust you. Very interesting."**

**"What's interesting?"**

**"You've met Rath… and you've been to our planet."**

**"Your planet?"**

**"Well, it's not our birth planet. Dars, Vorzelis, and I are from Lauris-Kel. But we made our home on Antar for many years. We defended the royals… mostly from others of our kind."**

**"Michael mentioned something about that."**

**"Michael?"**

**"Michael. The one who took me to Antar."**

**"You mean Rath."**

**"His name is Michael."**

**The shape-shifter thought for a moment. "Whatever name he was using, I assure you, you were with Rath. I saw him in your mind. I felt his presence there. There is no other like him. There is only one Rath."**

**"Who is Rath?"**

**"Rath is Zan's right hand man. He's the leader of Zan's armies… and he is much feared, at least as much as he is respected, on Antar."**

**"Michael is feared on Antar?"**

**"Rath is feared… very much so. But he is also respected… and loved by many. The king loves him as a brother. But this is quite perplexing."**

**"What is?"**

**"Rath disappeared many years ago and has not been seen since. Now I see him in your mind, and he is no older than he was when he disappeared. Do you not find that strange?"  **

**"Strange? I don't even understand what's going on."**

**The shape-shifter nodded. "I should have realized that. I saw the confusion in your mind."**

**"If your job was to protect the royal family, what are you doing on Earth," Kathleen asked. "Zan is on Antar. So is Ava."**

**"But two of our wards disappeared that day many years ago. Rath… and Vilandra. It was always believed that Rath was killed by Kivar or by Nyykto lying in ambush and that Vilandra was taken… kidnapped… by Kivar. Neither has been heard from since."**

**"So why are you on Earth," Kathleen repeated.**

**"Because… our sources led us to believe that others of our kind brought Vilandra here for Kivar. We still believe that she is here… with Kivar."**

**"How long have you been here?"**

**"About sixty of your Earth years."**

**Kathleen looked shocked.**

**"Sixty? Years?"**

**"Is that strange?"**

**"Well, if you were an Earthling it would be. I have no idea how old you can live to be… assuming that Zwolinski doesn't catch you."**

**The shape-shifter nodded. "And I thank you for trying to argue with him on our behalf. But we know this man. He is not one who can be dissuaded."**

**Kathleen gasped, as a terrible thought suddenly came into her mind.**

**"Were you the ones who killed Zwolinski's family? It would have been about the time you came here."**

**The shape-shifter looked at her for a moment, and Kathleen felt a tremor run up her spine.**

**"No," the shape-shifter said at last. "It wasn't me. Nor was it Dars or Vorzelis. I was not aware of this fact."**

**The shape-shifter reached out again with one hand and touched Kathleen's forehead. It was easier for her… him… it… whatever it was… to obtain detailed information this way. It told Yali so much more than words ever could. He removed his hand after a few moments.**

**"I see. Zwolinski told you that his family was killed by aliens who left silver handprints on the ones they killed."**

**"Yes. Do you have any idea who could have done that?"**

**"An idea… yes. But I would know so much more if I could connect with Zwolinski's mind."**

**Kathleen laughed. She didn't know where it came from. It was a spontaneous reaction. It was just the idea of Zwolinski submitting to an alien mind probe. It somehow struck her as supremely ludicrous… and funny.**

**"I don't think Zwolinski would sit still for that."**

**"Perhaps not for me," the shape-shifter said. "But I'll bet he would allow you to touch his head."**

**"Only if I was giving him a massage," Kathleen laughed.**

**                                         ************

**"Ah, that feels good, Topolsky! Who would have known you were so talented," Zwolinski sighed, sinking back into his chair while "Kathleen," behind him, massaged his temples and forehead. "Almost makes me forget about aliens. I don't suppose you'd want to get married?"**

**"Is that a proposal," 'Kathleen' asked.**

**"Naw… well, almost. If I wasn't married to my work, I'd be all over you," Zwolinski sighed.**

**The real Kathleen, who was in the other room listening, shivered. "Ewwww! Who would've guessed there'd be a silver lining to Zwolinski's obsession," she thought to herself. "His obsession with aliens was my salvation!"**

**The shape-shifter, who looked exactly like Kathleen, right down to the smallest freckle, continued to massage Zwolinski's temples, neck, and forehead, as he probed deeper into his mind…**

**i The bell rang, and Dumas collected up his second grade books quickly. He had to walk about a mile and a half to get home, but it was a pleasant walk. It was a bit chilly outside being February. But for February, it was actually not so bad. Dumas was in a hurry to get home. His older brother had promised to take him to the five and dime to spend the dollar his father had given him the day before for getting good grades the previous quarter. Jonathan was sixteen. He had just learned to drive recently and enjoyed shuttling Dumas –or anybody else- around in the family's Packard. **

**Normally, Dumas would stray from the route home to walk by the lake. It was a big lake, and Dumas always wondered what was on the other side. It was a mystery… the other side of the lake… It might as well have been the other side of the world. But today Dumas headed straight home. There were things that interested him even more than the mystery of the other side of the lake. Jonathan was taking him to the five and dime. Dumas loved the five and dime… especially the little rubber tractors. They had bins and bins of them in different sizes, nickel-sized and dime-sized. And they had lots of other kinds of toys… and candy… so much candy! Dumas could get a lot of candy with a dollar. He'd get some for Jonathan, too.**

**Dumas walked up the street to his yard and opened the little white swinging gate. He put his books on the ground and closed the gate back then picked the books back up and walked briskly toward the house. As he got closer, he heard something going on inside. It wasn't the normal sounds he would hear… it was more chaotic… like people running… things being overturned or thrown. Dumas dropped his books and ran up onto the porch. As quickly as he could, he let himself in.**

**"Mom? Are you here? Sally? Francis? Johnny?" **

**Dumas ran to Jonathan's room. Jonathan was lying beside his bed on the floor. Dumas looked at him and saw that his T-shirt was torn. He reached down and carefully lifted the tattered, burned edges of the T-shirt. Jonathan had a silver handprint on his chest over his heart. The handprint seemed to have been burned through his T-shirt. Jonathan was dead. Dumas wasn't sure how he knew that. Maybe it was because he had never seen Jonathan quite so still. But he knew. He ran to his sister's room.**

**"Sally? Are you in here?"**

**Dumas opened the door carefully and peeked inside. Then he opened the door. Nine-year old Sally lay on the bed. Thirteen-year-old Francis lay across her as though she had been trying to protect her younger sister. Dumas didn't have to touch them. He could see the silver handprints and the vacant stares in their eyes.**

**Dumas rushed through the house looking for anyone. As he rushed into the living room again, a shadow on the wall moved then turned into a man. Dumas stood looking at the man, his eyes wide. Then, as the man took a step toward Dumas, the closet door opened.**

**"Leave him alone! Dumas, run!" **

**Mrs. Zwolinski ran from the closet where she had been hiding.**

**Dumas was too shocked to run. He stood there as the man turned on his mother, pressing one hand to her chest. A red aura grew quickly around his hand, and Mrs. Zwolinski collapsed to the floor. The strange shadow-man turned and took a step toward the boy, but at that moment, another man that looked just like the first shadow-man appeared suddenly from outside and said something that was unintelligible to Dumas. The shadow-man in front of Dumas looked at the boy again then inexplicably turned and fled out the back door with his companion./i**

**Shocked at what he had seen, Yali broke the connection with Zwolinski momentarily.**

**"Don't stop, Topolsky! You're massage is the best thing that's happened to me in a while," Zwolinski said. Yali began to massage Zwolinski's shoulders and temples again. But he had seen what he needed to see. **

**"I think that's enough for now, Zwolinski," "Kathleen" said. "You should be pretty relaxed."**

**"Oh, I am, I am," Zwolinski said, looking up at "Kathleen." "You'll have to do this again sometime. I never knew what I was missing."**

**"Kathleen" smiled. "We'll see."**

**Zwolinski stood up, and before Yali knew what was happening, Zwolinski had given him a kiss right on the lips. Yali just smiled back at him.**

**                                       ************

**"I heard your conversation," Kathleen said later when she and Yali were again alone. "I wish I could have seen it. Zwolinski seemed to enjoy your massage."**

**"Yes. He showed his appreciation."**

**"Oh? I didn't hear him say thank you."**

**"He gave me… you call it a 'kiss' on my lips."**

**Kathleen looked at Yali, and her eyes grew wide. "I am so glad that was you and not me! Oh God, but he kissed you? Didn't that seem kind of… well, gay?"**

**"What's 'gay'?"**

**"A guy… well, two people who are alike… I don't know! You know… don't you?"**

**Yali looked confused.**

**"Oh God, this is hard… Well, look, Yali, it doesn't matter really."**

**Yali smiled. "You have two different 'sexes' on Earth, just as they do on Antar. The two sexes must combine to create a continuing line. I understand that."**

**"That's what I meant to say," Kathleen said, turning red-faced.**

**"We do not have sexes on Lauris-Kel. Everyone is the same. I can be whatever I would like to be at any particular time."**

**"Sounds like fun," Kathleen said. "A little kinky… but it definitely could be fun."**

**"It's the natural way," Yali said.**

**"For you, I guess it is, Yali. I didn't mean to imply anything. How do you… you know, continue your line?"**

**Yali smiled.**

**"Never mind! Omigod, I shouldn't have asked that, should I?"**

**"Why not? I don't mind. We become pregnant much as you do. We carry our babies three of your Earth months."**

**"Lucky you," Kathleen said. "Who gets to carry the baby?"**

**"We agree beforehand. We choose life mates for compatibility… and because we care about each other. When it is time to continue our line, we agree who will carry the baby."**

**"That would never work here, Yali. We might become extinct. Do you have a life mate?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Who's going to carry your baby?"**

**"My mate will carry the next one."**

**"The next one?"**

**"I'm carrying this one."**

**"Thi… this one? Now? You mean you're… pregnant?"**

**"Well, it's not exactly the same, but yes, basically that is accurate. In two months, our line will be continued."**

**"Congratulations… I think. Do you say that?"**

**"I understand. Thank you."**

**"I would really love to continue this conversation, Yali, but I'm afraid I'm going to stick my foot in my mouth and embarrass myself beyond any hope of recovering."**

**Yali smiled again. He did seem to understand Earth emotions pretty well. Perhaps it was because he had spent sixty years on Earth and… Kathleen had no idea how many on Antar before that.  **

**"Did you find out anything from Zwolinski," Kathleen asked.**

**"Yes. I saw what happened. And I recognized the ones responsible. They are a separate race of shape-shifters."**

**"There's more than one kind?"**

**"Oh, yes! Kivar used shape-shifters from several planets. The ones I saw in Zwolinski's mind were from Copro."**

**"Is that a planet?"**

**"Yes. It's in the same system as Lauris-Kel. The Coprosians are known as the 'shadow-dwellers.' Their natural form resembles a shadow, but they can take any shape. As a shadow, they are flat, and the Coprosians will often stand against a building or wall and not be noticed."**

**"Why would they kill Zwolinski's family?"**

**"That is the real question," Yali said thoughtfully. "The Coprosians are ruthless as a race, but they're not known for killing randomly for no reason. There had to be something they were looking for or something that they wanted in that house or from someone in that house."**

**"What could the Zwolinski family have possibly had that would interest the shadow-dwellers," Kathleen asked.**

**"That's what we must find out," Yali said.**

**tbc**


	31. Rath30

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Changes Of Heart**

**Chapter 30**

**XXX **

**Liz opened her door to find a very distraught Kyle Valenti standing in front of her.**

**"May I come in, Liz?"**

**"Kyle! Sure! Yeah, come in… Have a seat…" Liz showed him to the living room and motioned to a large armchair… then she sat down herself in a chair nearby.**

**"What are you doing here, Kyle? Aren't you a little far from your stomping grounds?"**

**"My Dad got killed, Liz."**

**Liz looked surprised, then sympathetic. "Kyle, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. What happened?"**

**"We don't know. Well, somebody killed him… I know that… He was shot. But the new sheriff they appointed, Hansen, thinks it was an accident."**

**"An accident?"**

**"Hansen thinks Dad fell while he was investigating something out at the old quarry."**

**"You said he was shot. I would think even Hansen could tell that."**

**"Hansen thinks Dad shot himself accidentally when he fell into the quarry. He was shot with his own gun."**

**"Oh! Well… I guess… I can see how he might think then…"**

**"Dad would never shoot himself accidentally, Liz… and he would never fall into the quarry. He was shot and pushed in. Dad's been all over that quarry more times than I can remember. There were always reports of weird things going on out there, and he was always running out there to check on something… ever since I was little. Dad didn't fall, and he didn't shoot himself."**

**Liz nodded. "I believe you, Kyle. I do. I don't think he would fall or shoot himself either. I can see how Hansen might think that, though."**

**"Hansen knew Dad well, Liz. How could he have thought that?"**

**Liz shook her head. "People sometimes believe whatever's easiest to believe… or to explain, Kyle. Hansen was pretty young when I lived in Roswell, but even then I knew that he wasn't the brightest bulb in the package, you know? Your Dad's death being an accident is probably all that he can imagine."**

**"Maybe."**

**"How can I help, Kyle?"**

**"Well, that's why I'm here, Liz. It's just that… that… well, how can I put this? This isn't easy for me…"**

**"Just say it, Kyle. I'll understand, whatever it is."**

**Kyle smiled slightly, grateful for the confidence.**

**"Liz, I was thinking about what that guy said… you know, Michael, the one who claimed to be from out there somewhere…" Kyle pointed randomly upward toward the sky.**

**"Antar," Liz said, nodding.**

**"Yeah… well, whatever. It's not that I really believe it, you know, but…"**

**"It's true," Liz said. "I've been there."**

**Kyle looked at Liz with a startled look. "You've been there? How? Geez, Liz, that's a lot to lay on me… this 'I've been to another planet,' stuff. I'm not the most trusting guy in the world, you know. If you were anyone else but you, I'd write you off right now as another crazy abductee kook."**

**"Yeah, well, I've seen it with my own eyes, Kyle. I called it home for a little over a year."**

**"When did this happen, Liz?"**

**Liz smiled. "In the future. I didn't tell Michael or my Dad that I was there that long. I returned here only a few minutes after I left. But, yeah… I was there a little over a year. It's all true, Kyle. Believe me if you don't believe Michael."**

**"Maybe you're crazy, too, Liz. But if you are, hell, so am I, 'cause… as hard as it is for me to say this… I do believe you, and the crazy part is, I think… maybe… I might want to go there, too."**

**"What about your life in Roswell, Kyle? What about your football trainer career… the money… the respect… you know, all that?"**

**"Yeah, well, I just woke up this morning and realized that all that was not as important as I thought it was, Liz. When Dad died, I… I… well… Michael said something about a whole different life up there. Do you think Dad would be alive there, Liz?"**

**Liz smiled. "He was when I was there. Don't ask me any more, Kyle. I can't tell you any more about the future."**

**"Why not, Liz? It's not our future. It's a whole different future in another place and time."**

**"It still may be your future, Kyle."**

**"I'm going to have a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around that thought, Liz. I'm trying… believe me."**

**"So you really think you want to return to that life, Kyle?"**

**"Return? Oh, yeah, Michael said I was there before and time got screwed up or something, didn't he? Yeah, I don't know, well, yeah, I guess so. No, hell, I know so. I'll just say it." **

**Kyle turned slightly red as he made this admission. It was like admitting he believed in the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. In fact, in Kyle's mind, the tooth fairy was probably more likely to exist than some alternate time on an alien world… with him in it. But he was ready to take a chance… to embarrass himself if that's what it took… to get back what he really cared about in life. In this time, Kyle had no family except his Dad. There was no wife, except the brief marriage he had had just out of high school… and that had ended badly. There were no children. Michael said he had had all these things on Antar. Could that be so bad? **

**Kyle had trouble imagining himself happily married, with children, but Michael said that on Antar he was. Could that really be a bad thing? He had no football career there, but Michael said there were a lot of other things. Could that be so bad? Now that Jim was gone, the football career seemed tragically unimportant. Maybe part of it's importance had always been that it had impressed his Dad. Kyle hadn't been a stay-at-home. He had cut out on his own right after high school, and he had always been his own man. But he realized that a lot of the enjoyment he got in life was in knowing that his successes pleased and impressed his Dad. He realized it now more than ever… now that everything he had lived for… everything he had treasured and built his life around… suddenly had no real meaning to him. **

**"You want to take a little trip, Kyle?"**

**"Where to?"**

**"You'll see." Liz called for the portal.**

**"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to this, Liz. This is just weird."**

**Liz smiled and took Kyle's hand. "Portal, take us to Michael." They stepped through the portal and onto one of the balconies of the royal palace on Antar. Zan and Michael were both standing there looking out at the city and the Golden Sea just beyond. Both of them turned to look at Liz and Kyle, as they stepped out of the portal. Liz's face turned a rosy pink, as they suddenly both looked at her.**

**"Zan… Michael… Hi! I hope I didn't interrupt something important. I'm sorry to just barge in on you. I thought you'd want to know that Kyle had a change of heart. He wants to come back."**

**Kyle stared out at the Golden Sea, the unknown landscape, the moons in the day sky… and the slightly visible planets aligned like a V in the sky, with the one he was on forming the junction of the V. For a moment, he almost had no awareness of those around him. Then he suddenly realized that people were talking. Some of what he was hearing was distinctly not English. It was also not Spanish. He had heard plenty of that in New Mexico, and though he didn't speak it himself, he had picked up enough to understand a good bit of what he heard. This did not sound like Spanish.**

**"So, you're ready to come back," Michael asked Kyle. **

**Zan smiled and said something to Michael in Antarian, and Michael nodded.**

**"Zan says you look like you'd make a great Captain."**

**Kyle shook his head. "I'm not interested in being a soldier… but I'm ready to get my old life back… the one you told me about… if that's still an option."**

**"I'm still working on it, Kyle, but yeah, it's still an option. I'm glad you want to return." Michael spoke to Zan in Antarian, and Zan smiled understandingly.**

**"This is Antar? This is where I lived in that… other time you told me about?"**

**"Yeah. This is it, Kyle. The people in the palace are a little different… well, kind of. Max and Liz were the king and queen. Zan here is Max, but that's kind of a long story. And all our families are missing, so it doesn't feel the same… but the planet's still the same. How do you like it?"**

**Kyle hadn't heard anything after Michael said, "Max and Liz were the king and queen."**

**"Liz… my Liz? This Liz! You didn't tell me about that, Liz."**

**Liz nodded and blushed slightly.**

**"Your Liz?" Michael asked.**

**"Yeah, well, you know, the Earth Liz… like me… the Liz I know. Liz, how the heck did you get to be the queen… of another planet? I really want to hear this."**

**"I got together an army and mounted a rebellion against the palace. Then I ousted the royal family, and the people made me their queen."**

**Kyle stood with his mouth open and nothing coming out. Liz giggled and slapped him playfully on the arm…**

**"No big plots, Kyle. I married the king… Max… that's all. Zan, he's called here."**

**"Yeah," Michael added, "then we found out she really was the rightful queen all along. Remind me to tell you about that sometime."**

**"Count on it," Kyle said, nodding incredulously.**

**"So what do you think, Kyle? Could you live here and be happy," Michael asked.**

**"It's got its charm," Kyle said. "It'll take some getting used to, though, I think."**

**"Maybe not," Michael said. "If I succeed in restoring time to its former path, you'll again be who you were before, and you'll be used to it already. You lived on Antar for about twenty years… longer than anyone else from Earth but Max and me, longer than Liz and the others. We rescued them from Earth later. You came here with Max and me when we first returned to our planet.**

**"How the hell did you get me to do that?"**

**"Earth was falling apart. Kivar blew it up."**

**"Oh. That might work, I guess."**

**Liz slapped Kyle on the arm again.**

**Kyle grinned. "Who was Kivar anyway?" **

**"He was the guy who really wanted to oust the royal family and take over Antar… and some other planets."**

**"Oh… a galactic bad guy. And he blew up the Earth?"**

**"He was after us. I don't think he meant to blow the Earth up, but that's what happened."**

**"And you changed that some way, I take it. I mean, otherwise I wouldn't be around on Earth in my time, would I?"**

**"I don't know how this time stuff works exactly, Kyle," Michael said, "but yeah, Max and I went back and changed it and rescued Liz and Maria… and all the others who were being held by the special FBI alien unit. Alex helped. You stayed on Antar."**

**"Alex?"**

**"Yeah, Alex Whitman."**

**"This just gets cozier and cozier! Alex Whitman was here?"**

**"He came later… with Tess. That reminds me… Liz?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"You said I had to find Alex, Kyle, Jim, Kathleen, and Tess. We've found everyone but Tess, and now that Kyle wants to come back, everyone but Tess is taken care of. How am I supposed to find someone who doesn't exist?"**

**"Tess?" Kyle asked.**

**"Tess Harding. She was the fourth royal… the queen before Kivar deposed… killed us. Tess was Ava's double or reincarnation. But in this time, we didn't get killed. Ava is still alive, and Tess was never born on Earth, because Ava's DNA was never taken there."**

**"Well, I don't know what Tess Harding was," Kyle said… "but she did exist on Earth. She still does. At least somebody's cashing my alimony checks."**

**Michael and Liz both looked at Kyle with obvious surprise on their faces.**

**"Well, she could have been an alien," Kyle said. "That might explain a lot. That girl could really warp my mind!"**

**"That was one of her powers," Michael said… "mind warps."**

**"Well, I didn't mean that literally," Kyle said. "I was speaking figuratively. Oh, I guess she wasn't so bad. We were both young and naïve. We weren't ready for marriage. I know I wasn't."**

**"Do you know where she is… what she's doing?" Liz asked.**

**Kyle shook his head. "I haven't kept up with her. I just send a check to a PO box every month. Well, my attorney does."**

**Liz looked at Michael, and Michael nodded. Liz called the portal. **

**"Kyle, you're coming with us," Michael said.**

**"You got that right. I'm not staying here by myself on an alien planet with no one that speaks English! How would I even find the bathroom? Do they even have those here? No offense, Zan."**

**Zan smiled, though he didn't understand a word of what Kyle had said. Liz told the portal to take them to Tess Harding, and Michael stepped into the opening. Liz followed with Kyle.**

**They stepped out on the other side into what appeared to be a yacht, a very big yacht.**

**"Tess must be making the most of my alimony checks," Kyle said, looking at the beautiful yacht around them. Suddenly, they heard noises. Someone was trying to speak, but their voice was muffled. **

**"Shut up," another voice said gruffly.**

**"Let her scream," a third voice said. "No one's going to hear her out here."**

**"It grates on my noives," the other male voice said.**

**"My 'noives!' My 'noives!'" the second voice mocked sarcastically. "Just get her over to the side."**

**There were more muffled sounds. Michael and Kyle ran around the back of the boat with Liz right behind them. "Damn, this is a big boat," Kyle thought to himself. "Takes forever to get anywhere on it." As they rounded the back, they saw two big men struggling with a young, blonde-headed woman. She was gagged, and her feet had been stuck through the two holes in a large cinder block then the holes had been sealed with concrete around her ankles so that she would not be able to pull her feet back through. **

**"Tess!" Kyle yelled. The young woman looked at him with terror in her eyes. Then the two men hoisted her over the side. The last Kyle heard was a muffled scream and a big splash, as the cinder block hit the water and sank quickly to the bottom, a hundred and twenty feet below, taking its victim with it.**

**tbc**


	32. Rath31b

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Davy Jones' Locker**

**Chapter 31**

**XXXI **

**Kyle ran toward the men, as they tossed Tess –with the cinder block around her ankles- into the sea. He caught one of the men broadside before the man could turn around completely to face him. The much larger man, knocked off balance, fell over the side. The second man, who was at least as big as the first, grabbed Kyle by the neck and literally lifted him off the deck. Kyle gasped for air, as the large man's hand wrapped almost completely around his neck, pressing like a vise against his trachea and closing off the airway. Though well-toned and muscular, and no small guy himself, Kyle found himself nevertheless unable to reach the hulking ogre that held him effortlessly in the air with one hand as it strangled the life out of him. He tried to kick or punch the man, but it was to no avail. His arms and legs simply wouldn't reach him.**

**"Damn," Kyle thought, as he began to lose consciousness, "Just my luck to be killed out here by the Incredible Hulk's evil white brother."**

**Suddenly, a bolt of power flashed past Kyle's face and struck the large man square in the middle of the chest. The powerful burst of energy sent the large man backwards right through the rail and over the side… with Kyle still in his hand. Michael watched as Kyle went over the side. He hadn't expected to go this far, but what had to be done had to be done. He quickly kicked off his shoes and pulled off his shirt then jumped overboard. The larger man had released Kyle when they hit the water, and Kyle was floundering, half-conscious, on the surface. Michael grabbed Kyle by the chin and lifted his face out of the water, as he swam back to the side of the boat with him.**

**"Liz! …Liz! …Drop me a ladder or something," Michael yelled, spitting out some salt water. He waited a few moments then yelled again. "Liz! Where are you? I need a ladder over here!" Getting no response, Michael looked around for a way to get himself and Kyle back onto the small ship. He spotted the anchor line at the bow. "Liz, you'd better have a real good reason for disappearing on me up there," Michael said, more to himself than to anyone in particular, as he paddled with one hand toward the anchor line while holding Kyle with the other hand. Kyle seemed to be regaining consciousness. At least that was a good sign. He could keep himself afloat if need be. Michael reached the anchor line at last and grabbed hold of it with one hand, testing his remaining strength.**

**"Can you hold onto me, Kyle, while I get us out of here?"**

**"I think so," Kyle said. "Is Goliath gone?"**

**"Yeah. Hold on tight. We're going up."**

**Kyle put his arms around Michael's shoulders.**

**"Not that close," Michael said, looking Kyle in the eyes. "I can't move my arms… and I can smell your breath."**

**"Naw, that's just the fish in my shirt," Kyle said, grinning as much as he could under the circumstances. Kyle slid down a little and grabbed hold around Michael's waist to allow Michael to move his arms freely. Michael grabbed the anchor line with both hands and began to climb, pulling himself and Kyle up the chain one stroke at a time. As he climbed, Kyle began to help, finally grabbing hold of the chain himself and pulling himself the rest of the way up. The two climbed over the bow onto the yacht and looked around. **

**"Where is Liz," Michael asked, his voice now showing genuine concern.**

**                                           ************

**One hundred and twenty feet below the surface of the sea, a silvery, mirror-like apparition appeared in front of a panicking young woman whose feet were stuck in a cement block. Tess had held her breath about as long as she could, and she had tried every way she could –and a few that she couldn't- to get the block off of her feet or to somehow swim or move with it on, but it was useless. Now she was at the point of sheer exhaustion and panic. She saw the silvery apparition appear in front of her, looking hazy through the water, and her only thought was that she must be ready to die and this was some light leading her to the next life. She was relieved to think that it wouldn't all end here, but it saddened her, too, to go this way… this suddenly… this… needlessly. Tess closed her eyes and prepared to succumb to the overwhelming urge to breathe. She knew that her burning lungs would merely fill with water, but she had already held her breath longer than she had thought was humanly possible.**

**As she started to breathe in, a hand reached out and grabbed her, pinching her nose and mouth closed. Tess opened her eyes wide in shock and looked through the haze of the water at the figure in front of her. If she was being taken to Heaven or… some place else… either way, she hadn't expected to be taken like this. She momentarily almost forgot that her lungs were burning as though being seared by flames with a desperation to breathe. The figure swimming in front of her laboriously moved the cinder block a few inches at a time toward the silvery apparition. It took only a matter of moments… twenty, maybe thirty seconds… to reach the apparition, but to Tess it was an eternity. She was losing consciousness as the figure pulled her into the apparition. The next moment, the hand came off of Tess' nose and mouth, and Tess gulped in air… real air… delicious air… with several deep reflexive gasps. Collapsing at the feet of the unknown figure who had pulled her through the apparition, Tess looked up thankfully into the smiling face of a young woman with brown eyes and hair. She was sure that she was looking into the face of an angel. Whether she was dead or alive, either way, she was looking at the face of an angel.**

**"That was close," the dark-haired woman said, attempting to press some of the salt water out of her long, drenched hair. "I'm glad we made it in time. I'm Liz, by the way."**

**Tess gasped again, gulping in more of the precious air that her lungs and body were starved for. Then she surprised Liz by grabbing her around the legs and starting to cry. Liz slid down next to her and put her arms around her.**

**"It's alright. You're okay now. You're safe."**

**"I know," Tess said, tears streaming down her face. "I know… thanks to you. I don't know how you did it, but thanks… so much! You're an angel!"**

**"Pshhh… just someone who knows a few special tricks," Liz said, holding Tess and rocking with her back and forth.**

**"How did you get in this mess anyway," Liz asked. "Who were those guys?"**

**Tess looked away momentarily. Then she looked back at Liz with a sense of determination. **

**"You deserve to know. I've never told anyone before, not even my husband when I was married."**

**"Kyle?"**

**Tess looked surprised. "You know Kyle?"**

**"Yeah. He's here… somewhere."**

**"I thought I saw him right before they threw me in the water… then I thought maybe it was just my life flashing before my eyes, you know."**

**"Yeah."**

**"You wanted to know why they were trying to kill me?"**

**"If you want to tell me."**

**"I'll tell you. Like I said, you deserve to know. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't saved me… I still don't know how you did that!"**

**"That's my secret," Liz said. "But I might tell you later. What did those guys want?"**

**"They're just hired thugs," Tess said. "It's who they work for that matters."**

**"Who's that?"**

**Tess looked around again. "I don't want you to think I'm making things up. You might think I'm lying to you, and I wouldn't do that… not after you saved my life."**

**"I won't think you're lying."**

**Tess nodded. Somehow, she sensed that Liz really would believe her.**

**"Okay… well, the people the thugs work for… they're not from around here."**

**"Not from… I don't even know where here is," Liz said, just realizing this fact. She and Michael had asked the sphere to take them to Tess. She had no idea where that might be, though.**

**"Well, we're about twenty miles east of the Bahamas," Tess said. "But that's not what I meant. I meant that the people those thugs are working for are… aliens."**

**"Aliens… like Mexicans? …or aliens like, you know, Martians?"**

**"Like Martians," Tess said. "They're shape-shifters from a planet called Copro… and from Antar."**

**Tess thought she noticed a look of surprise in Liz's eyes at the mention of Antar. She wasn't sure what to make of it, though.**

**"Did the thugs come from there, too," Liz asked.**

**"Oh, no! They didn't even know they were working for aliens. They just know they're well-paid. It's just business for them."**

**"Some business!"**

**"Yeah. Did you put them out of business, Liz?"**

**"Me? No, I think Michael and Kyle did that." Liz looked around with a look of concern on her face.**

**"You're worried about your friend and Kyle, aren't you?"**

**"Yeah, well, they were here, and now they're not… But I trust them. They'll be okay."**

**Tess smiled and nodded. But she could see the worry in Liz's face.**

**"What did these aliens want with you, Tess?"**

**"They've always wanted me," Tess said. "Ever since I came here I've been hiding from them."**

**"Where did you come here from?"**

**"Well…" Tess looked down again. "Don't think I'm lying to you…"**

**"I promise."**

**"Antar."**

**Tess noticed that same look of surprise in Liz's eyes.**

**"You know something, don't you, Liz? How do you know about Antar?"**

**"You won't think I'm lying, will you?" Liz asked.**

**Tess smiled. "Okay, I had that coming, I guess. No, I promise."**

**"I've been there," Liz said. She decided to wait until she knew more about this girl before telling her that Michael was from there.**

**Tess looked surprised but then nodded. "I knew there was something about you. You aren't a shape-shifter."**

**Liz laughed. "No!"**

**"I know that. You don't look like you're Antarian… but I can't be sure. There's not that much difference."**

**"I'm from Roswell… New Mexico."**

**"Oh."**

**"Why were these shape-shifters after you, Tess?"**

**"Because they made me."**

**Liz could not conceal the shock that this statement caused in her. Tess noticed it immediately.**

**"I guess you aren't here to take me back if you don't know who I am," Tess said.**

**"No. I'm only here to help you, Tess."**

**"I can tell that. Thanks, Liz."**

**"What did you mean, 'they made you?'"**

**"They work for a real bad type known as Kivar."**

**"I've heard of him."**

**Tess looked surprised but just barely.**

**"Well, anyway, Kivar bribed someone to get him some of the queen's hair from one of her hair brushes then he had his scientists isolate her DNA and combine it with human DNA here on Earth."**

**"Why?"**

**"Because he hoped to kill the real queen, Ava, and replace her with his creation."**

**"You."**

**Tess nodded. "I was supposed to be indoctrinated and raised to be obedient to Kivar while I grew up here on Earth, but I escaped. Another shape-shifter, Nasedo, took me away when I was little and hid me. The sheriff in Roswell helped us."**

**"That explains that," Liz said to herself. "How could you replace Ava, though? I met Ava. She's like ninety years old now. You're nowhere near that."**

**"The plan was to age progress me over time until I was the same age as the queen then kill her and put me in her place. Then Kivar would take over, because I would be there helping him from inside the palace. No one would ever suspect the queen."**

**"Ingenious. Nasty… but ingenious. You spoiled their plans, huh…"**

**"Yeah… big time. I escaped from Kivar and his shape-shifters when I was only seven. Nasedo found me before the others did; and instead of taking me back, he helped me get away. The sheriff helped us, too, for a while, as I said before. He found us a place to hide… a safe house. Nasedo explained everything pretty much to the sheriff, I think. He trusted him. Not so much at first, but later he did. That's how I met Kyle. But Jim never told anyone… not even Kyle… what I was. He kept my secret. He wanted me to tell Kyle, but I never could. How can you tell someone you care about that you're not real," Tess asked, swallowing a sob and looking at her own hands as though she didn't know what they were.**

**"You're real, honey," Liz said. "You're as real as me! You may have been brought to life by the scientists who combined Ava's DNA with human DNA, but you're every bit as real as I am."**

**Tess smiled. "Thanks, Liz. You're nice… a lot like Jim. I miss him… and Kyle, too, in a way."**

**"Somebody killed Jim," Liz said.**

**Tess was stunned… then tears began to well up in her eyes again. "Jim's dead? How? When?"**

**"A couple of days ago… at the old quarry outside of Roswell. We don't know who did it. He was shot with his own gun. The deputy… the new sheriff… Hansen… thinks Jim slipped and fell into the quarry and accidentally shot himself."**

**Tess shook her head vehemently. "No! Jim would never do that! You don't know about the quarry, Liz. Stay away from there! It's a dangerous place!"**

**"Well, I figured that out," Liz said. "Kathleen told me that. She said it's spooky. There's no sound out there… not a bird or a cricket, not even a breeze to rustle the leaves of the trees or bushes. She said it's like being inside a strange invisible box."**

**"Don't let her go there again if you care about her," Tess said. "Please!"**

**"Why? What's the deal with the old quarry?"**

**Tess grimaced. She didn't want to say too much, but she felt somehow compelled to tell Liz everything.**

**"The shape-shifters' space craft is there. They put a force canopy over the whole area."**

**"How were Jim and Kathleen able to get in there then? If a space ship is there, why didn't they see it?"**

**"The ship is buried under the rocks at the bottom of the quarry. The force canopy doesn't keep people out… people won't even notice it. Animals seem to be aware of it, though, and they stay away. The purpose of the force canopy is to provide the shape-shifters with remote information about what's happening there. It's like a radar field. They're… connected… somehow… to the force canopy. Anything that happens there, they can see it or sense it in some way. If they feel it's a threat to them… they eliminate the threat."**

**"Why didn't you tell Jim this?"**

**"I wanted to tell him… but I was afraid he'd go out there and try to do something and they'd kill him. I didn't want anything to happen to him. There was nothing Jim could have done against the shape-shifters. He wouldn't have had a chance… He didn't have a chance."**

**"They killed him?"**

**"I'm sure of it. That's probably how they found me."**

**"Jim wouldn't have told them where you were… not even if they tortured him."**

**"He wouldn't need to," Tess said. "I'm sure they knew he wouldn't give up any information. But all they have to do is touch someone's forehead to see all their thoughts."**

**"You think Jim let them do that?"**

**"No. They would have sneaked up on him disguised as something… a bird, a cat, a puppy… it could be anything. If Jim picked it up, it could have had his gun and shot him before he knew what happened. They could get the information in the seconds before he died… maybe even after he died… in the first few seconds."**

**Liz was appalled and shocked by what Tess was telling her.**

**"So Jim really would have been defenseless against them," Liz said.**

**"Yeah."**

**"Someone could have notified the military."**

**"The Secret Service and the military aren't high on my slumber party invitation list, Liz. Jim wasn't just protecting me from shape-shifters and from Kivar…"**

**"Oh! I see."**

**"Besides, anything that drew attention to the presence of aliens and appeared in any way to be connected to Jim would have caused nothing but trouble for him from the military."**

**"You're probably right." **

**Liz looked around again for Michael and Kyle. She was more that a little worried now by their disappearance.**

**"I think we'd better look for Michael and Kyle. You up to walking?"**

**"Yeah… I'll be okay now. Thanks, Liz. I'll go with you. Maybe I can help."**

**Liz nodded and headed off toward the front of the yacht, walking along the port side, with Tess beside her. As they reached the bow, Liz looked around for any sign of her two missing friends. She saw nothing. Then, suddenly, two large hands closed around her eyes and mouth from behind. She heard Tess let out a muffled cry and knew that they had her, too. Moments later, the hands came off, and Liz and Tess looked around. They were inside a large stateroom. A couple of large men left the room and locked the door behind them.**

**"I'm so glad you could join the party," a voice behind Liz and Tess said.**

**Both spun around at the same time.**

**"It was really not very considerate of you to escape when I wanted you to drown, Tess."**

**Tess gasped. "Nicholas?"**

**The boy grinned. "At your service… temporarily… very temporarily."**

**tbc**


	33. Rath32

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Nicholas Out-Of-Time**

**Chapter 32**

**XXXII **

**You didn't think those two Neanderthal-brains that you threw overboard were the only two crewmen on this boat, did you, Tess," Nicholas asked sarcastically. "Really! Somebody has to run this dingy. I doubt those two morons could figure out how a rowboat works."**

**Tess frowned, unamused by Nicholas' attempt at wittiness. **

**"I didn't know you knew anything about boats, Nicholas." **

**"Ah, my dear, dear girl! Shows how little you know! Okay, it's true, I'm not the one running the boat. I have more important things to occupy my time with. That's what captains are for. The pea-brains you already met are just useless crew… muscle to back up my will."**

**"Does Kivar know you tried to drown me, Nicholas? He went to a lot of trouble to make me. I can't believe he'd just toss out his ace."**

**"Defective merchandise, Tess… No reason to keep you."**

**"Is that what Kivar thinks?"**

**Nicholas smiled very slightly, making an obviously forced effort to produce his trademark sarcastic grin, but he seemed inhibited…**

**"It doesn't really matter what Kivar thinks, Tess. You're not going to tell him, are you?" His trademark grin returned. "What Kivar doesn't know won't hurt me… will it? Kivar could start over and do it right if he would just give up on you. But no! He still thinks he'll find you and complete his plans. But we both know that even if he does find you, you'll never be what he's looking for, don't we, Tess?"**

**Tess was silent.**

**"No… that's what I thought. You've been corrupted by the humans who've been helping you. You don't have that ruthless instinct that Kivar wanted to breed into you. You'd be a liability now, not a help, to our cause. Kivar is reluctant to give up on you, but we know you're defective, don't we, Tess?"**

**"I think you're defective, Nicholas, if you really want to know," Tess said.**

**Nicholas grinned. "Now that's the Tess I like… sarcastic!"**

**"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to turn you on."**

**"Don't flatter yourself, Tess. You're not my type."**

**"Oh, that's right… seventy years of popping pre-adolescent zits and having women pat you on the head and walk away has turned your attentions in other directions, hasn't it?"**

**Nicholas frowned. "My private life is none of your concern, Tess. Besides, there are some shape-shifters that are more than willing to please me."**

**Liz grimaced and wrinkled her nose. **

**"Ew! I really didn't need to know that."**

**"Welcome to the twisted world of NicholasPerv," Tess said to Liz. "You get off with shadows, Nicholas?"**

**"That's just their natural appearance. They can be anything I want."**

**"Ew," Liz said again, her mind running wild with unwanted images of what might turn Nicholas on. "Let's change the subject."**

**"I'd love to stay and chat with you ladies, but my duty calls," Nicholas said with a dramatic flare. "There is no rest for some of us."**

**"We wouldn't want to keep you from your duty, Nicholas," Tess said sarcastically. "I'm sure we'll pull ourselves together and manage without you somehow."**

**Nicholas grinned and knocked on the door. One of his steroid-enhanced crewmen opened the door for him then closed it back and locked it, leaving Tess and Liz alone in the room.**

**"Do you think they got Kyle and your friend, Liz," Tess asked.**

**Liz was silent for a moment. Then she frowned… "I don't know. I'm afraid of that… but Nicholas didn't mention them. He impresses me as the type who wouldn't have been able to keep from bragging about it if he had them."**

**Tess nodded. "Yeah! Yeah, that's a good point. I think you're right, Liz. He would have said something. I wonder where they went."**

**"If they saw those other goons, they may be scouting the ship to find out who else is onboard… or planning our rescue. But we can't count on that."**

**"But what can we do," Tess asked.**

**"I don't know. It doesn't look like there's any way out of here."**

**"Well, I don't want to just wait for Nicholas' gorillas to put my feet in concrete and toss me overboard again," Tess said, her eyes showing genuine fear. "How did you get that cement block off of my feet, Liz?"**

**"I didn't. I guess the portal transported you back onto the ship and left the block down there."**

**"Portal? Is that what that thing was? What kind of portal?"**

**"It's a bit complicated, Tess. It's something an alien king from another planet gave to a… an ancestor of mine… a sphere that creates a portal that can take you wherever you want to go."**

**"Cool! Don't let Nicholas find out about it!"**

**"I won't… but it wouldn't help him if he did. It won't work for him."**

**"Now that's really cool… something that Nicholas can't use and you can! I like that! I never had anything like that."**

**"I could use the portal to get us out… but if we left the boat, we'd be abandoning Michael and Kyle… and if we don't leave the boat, those guys will just grab us again. You know, Tess… you might just have something that can help us at that. Michael told me you used to do mindwarps… in another time."**

**"Mindwarps? What's that?"**

**"Mindwarps! You know."**

**Tess shook her head.**

**"You could make people think they were seeing things that weren't there."**

**"Like hypnosis?"**

**"Well, kind of, but more… I don't know, invasive… more proactive. You didn't have to talk to them or dangle a spinning wheel in front of them. It's just something you did with your mind."**

**"That would be… cool… but I can't do it. I've never done that."**

**"Maybe you could if you tried. If you could, you could make Nicholas and those steroid monkeys of his think they were seeing an empty room when they came back, and we could walk out the door right past them."**

**"I wish I could do that, Liz, but I don't know how."**

**"Didn't Nasedo teach you?"**

**"No. He insisted that we act as human as possible. He wanted us to blend in and be inconspicuous."**

**"That's not the Nasedo I heard about. Our timeline and the other one that Michael came from obviously have some differences."**

**"Nasedo taught me all about my planet, Antar, and he told me all about Nicholas and Kivar… the things that I didn't know, so that I could protect myself. But he insisted that we never mention any of them around other humans."**

**"That was smart, probably. Look, Tess, why don't you try it… you know… a mindwarp."**

**"I don't know how."**

**"Just think about it. Close your eyes and concentrate. Try to make me think you're not here."**

**"Tess closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she opened her eyes. "Do you still see me?"**

**Liz nodded. "Maybe you have to internalize it somehow…"**

**"How do I do that?"**

**"I don't know."**

**"I can't do it' Liz. I wish I could, but I just can't."**

**Liz looked frustrated but not yet defeated. "You need to concentrate on the other person's mind… block it somehow from seeing you. Let me think…" Liz closed her eyes tight and concentrated, thinking about how a mind warp might work. After a moment, she opened her eyes. **

**"I think I've got an idea, Tess, but I'm not sure I can explain it…"**

**Tess was walking around the room with a frightened look in her eyes…**

**"Liz? Where are you? Don't leave me here by myself! Where'd you go?"**

**"I'm right here, Tess!" Liz waved her hand in Tess' face.**

**"Liz, please! Come back! You're scaring me!"**

**"I'm right in front of you, Tess! Look at me!" Suddenly, Tess saw Liz.**

**"How'd you do that? You just disappeared! You were gone! Don't do that, Liz! I was scared you wouldn't come back."**

**"I don't know how I did it, Tess. I didn't mean to. I was just thinking about how to do it and it happened."**

**"But you're not Antarian… you're human."**

**"Yeah… I know. Maybe when I was on Antar I picked up some kind of ability from Max… I don't know."**

**"You can mindwarp them for us, Liz."**

**"I… I'm not sure I can. I'm not sure how I did it. I might not be able to do it when I need to."**

**"Sure you can, Liz. You just closed your eyes and concentrated on my mind… like this."**

**Suddenly, Tess began to fade from view… then she was gone. A moment later, she was back.**

**Liz's eyes were wide. "That was amazing!"**

**"What? What did I do?"**

**"You disappeared! You started to fade out, and then you just weren't there! It was incredible!"**

**"I did? I could still see me."**

**"But I couldn't. How'd you do it?"**

**"Like you told me… I just thought about blocking my image from your mind. It really wasn't very hard… once you know what to do it's not. You try it again."**

**Liz closed her eyes and concentrated. **

**"Think about my mind, Liz. Block it from seeing you."**

**Liz nodded. Then she began to fade from sight.**

**"Okay… okay, Liz, that's enough! Come back!"**

**Liz dissolved the block in Tess' mind, and Tess saw her again.**

**"Cool! Liz, you're the greatest! You could teach me so much!"**

**"I don't know how to do these things myself, Tess. I'm just learning… like you."**

**At that moment, the door began to unlock. Tess turned toward the door, her eyes wide with fear. The door opened, and one of the large thugs came in carrying two cement blocks, one for Tess and one for Liz. The other thug was right behind him with a bag of concrete. Both men stopped and looked around the room then started to yell for Nicholas. Within moments, Nicholas was there.**

**"They're gone? How? Weren't you idiots watching them?"**

**"They were locked in! They couldn't have got out!"**

**"Well they did, didn't they! Idiot! Moron! Find them!"**

**The big men turned to go one way, and Nicholas turned to go the other way. Suddenly, a foot kicked one of the large men in the behind, and another foot kicked Nicholas in the behind. Both turned back quickly to face each other.**

**"How dare you," Nicholas said, his child-like face turning red with rage. "Nobody…!"**

**"Nobody does that to me," the big man said, picking Nicholas up by the pants waist. "Youse just pushed your luck and ran out of time, runt!"**

**With that, the oversized thug spun around twice like a discus thrower and sent Nicholas flying into the sea about a hundred feet from the yacht. Nicholas hit the water with a splash and came up sputtering. **

**"You'll regret this," he yelled, as the yacht suddenly came to life and began to head towards the Bahamas.**

**"I'll find you… every one of you," Nicholas yelled. "There won't be any place you can hide from me!"**

**Suddenly, Nicholas felt something nudge him from behind. It was a dolphin. Nicholas swatted at it.**

**"Go away! Go away, whatever you are!"**

**The dolphin picked Nicholas up by pushing its snout under him and playfully tossed him to another dolphin.**

**"I'm not a frikkin' beach ball, dammit! Cut it out! I said cut it out! Aw geez…"**

**Still invisible to the thugs, Liz and Tess watched and giggled from the side of the yacht as the dolphins tossed Nicholas back and forth from one dolphin to the other.**

**"You kicked that big guy good, Liz. I was laughing so hard. It's a good thing those guys couldn't hear us or see us."**

**"You kicked Nicholas pretty good yourself, Tess! I thought he was gonna sail over the side. Did Kyle teach you to kick field goals like that?"**

**Tess giggled.**

**"I won't forget this," Nicholas yelled at the disappearing yacht. "I promise you… I won't forget…"**

**tbc**


	34. Rath33

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Mutiny On the High Seas**

**Chapter 33**

**XXXIII **

**Tess turned to Liz with a worried look on her face. "Liz, what are we going to do about getting back home? How many more thugs do you think Nicholas has on here? And where are Kyle and Michael? We need to find out what happened to them."**

**Liz swallowed hard. "Yeah… I'm beginning to get really worried about Michael and Kyle, too. I don't know how many more thugs Nicholas has onboard. I don't know how many he needed to run this thing. If we run into any more… maybe we can use a mindwarp to make them think the deck goes that way…" -Liz indicated the ocean off the starboard side- "and make them walk off the side or something."**

**"I think we may need the Captain, Liz… I don't know how to run a yacht. Do you?"**

**"No. I've never even been on one. I just got my solo spacecraft license right before I left Antar… that year I spent there. I wonder if a yacht's anything like a spaceship."**

**"You learned to fly a spaceship?"**

**"Yeah. Well, Max said I should. He said that in the other timeline I knew how to fly them and even repair them."**

**"That's so cool!"**

**"He said that you did, too, Tess."**

**"Me? Liz, I can't even fix a vacuum cleaner when the belt breaks!"**

**Liz smiled. "I guess you just don't know what you can do until you've done it, Tess. Max said you were quite good. He said you and I helped to repair the Antarian mothership, the New Granolith, once when it was badly damaged on Earth."**

**"Wow! That's really… excellent! I never imagined…"**

**"Let's take a walk around this yacht and scout it out," Liz said. I want to see what's up there on the bridge running this thing."**

**Tess shuddered involuntarily. "I hope it's not Kivar! Can we mindwarp Kivar?"**

**Liz thought a moment. "I don't know. I really don't know."**

**Liz led the way until they found some stairs that looked like they might lead up to the bridge. Then the two carefully climbed the stairs and slowly opened the door. It appeared that there were only two men on the bridge… the Captain and a First Mate.**

**"Stay with me, Tess." **

**"You don't need to tell me, Liz. I'm your shadow!"**

**Liz crept over to the Captain and looked at him. Then she looked at the other man.**

**"Tess, take a look."**

**Tess looked at the two men. **

**"Kyle?"**

**"And Michael," Liz said. "What do you think they're doing up here on the bridge?"**

**"And why aren't they looking for us," Tess said.**

**"Exactly! Ooh! I'm starting to think some naughty thoughts, Tess."**

**Tess smiled.**

**"You, too, huh?" **

**Tess nodded. **

**"You take Kyle. I'll take Michael," Liz said. The two girls looked at each other then shoved Michael and Kyle out of their seats at the same time. **

**"Kyle! What the crap!"**

**"You shoved me!" Kyle exclaimed.**

**"I didn't shove you… You shoved me!"**

**"I didn't shove you, Kyle! Who shoved me?" Michael looked around the room… "Okay, Liz! Where are you? Show yourself!" **

**Michael and Kyle heard giggling then laughing, as the two girls appeared… sitting in their seats.**

**"Very funny," Michael said. "Where did you girls come from?"**

**"The question you should be asking, Michael, is "Why wasn't I out there trying to rescue Liz and Tess when they were about to be thrown overboard with concrete shoes on?"**

**Tess pulled Kyle up by the ear. "I'm waiting to hear that answer, too, Kyle!"**

**"Ow, Tess! Leggo of my ear! That hurts!"**

**"I know more things that can hurt, Kyle… unless you start explaining."**

**"We were looking for you, Tess… then we were attacked by a couple of those big gorillas Nicholas got out of a zoo somewhere." **

**"We gave 'em a banana and sent 'em back to the zoo," Michael added.**

**"What does that mean," Liz asked.**

**"We threw 'em overboard," Kyle said.**

**Liz and Tess stared at the two guys.**

**"What? You don't think we could do it?"**

**"I don't know, Kyle," Tess said. "Michael could have alien powers or something, but how did you…?"**

**"Kyle just ducked when the big goon swung at him," Michael said. "Then when the big lug fell over him, Kyle just stood up and let him roll over his back… and splash! Into the water he went!"**

**"Okay… but why didn't you come to rescue us then," Tess asked.**

**"We did," Michael said. "After we found out where you were, we went to rescue you, but we saw two of those gorillas walking toward the door carrying some cinder blocks and cement. We hid behind some crates figuring we'd attack them and get you girls out when they opened the door; but then they started yelling that you were gone."**

**"At first, we couldn't figure it out," Kyle said. "Michael thought you must be hiding in the room somewhere, but when we saw something kick that big galoot's ass and then something kick Nicholas' ass and Nicholas almost do a somersault, we figured it out."  **

**"Yeah! Then we watched the big gorilla throw Nicholas over the side," Michael continued. "Then the two big guys went back toward the bridge, so we followed them. We figured you girls would be okay after that. That's when the two thugs saw us, and we threw them over. We found the Captain on the bridge. He was by himself. We tied him up and put him in the stockroom. He was easy… nothing like the steroid gorillas. I think we've got 'em all now."**

**"I didn't know you could pilot a yacht, Michael," Liz said.**

**"Kyle's teaching me."**

**"When did you lean to pilot a yacht, Kyle," Tess asked.**

**"I've been on a few," Kyle said. "Football parties and all, you know. Some of the team owners have some pretty big toys… a few of the players do, too."**

**"Oh. You never took me on one when we were married."**

**"We were just out of high school, Tess. I didn't know all these rich people back then."**

**"By the way, Liz," Michael said, "When did you learn to become invisible?"**

**"Well… I…"**

**"Isn't it cool," Tess said. "Liz taught me how to do mindwarps!"**

**"Liz taught you to… What!" Michael looked at Liz with a shocked look… **

**"Liz, are you out of your frikkin' mind? Do you know what you did? What were you thinking? You and I are going to have to have a serious talk!"**

**Liz stuck her tongue out and smiled. "Well, you didn't come to rescue us, so we took matters into our own hands. You didn't think we were just going to sit there and let them put cement on our feet and throw us overboard, did you? I mean… if we had to depend on you two…" Liz grinned and shook her head… **

**"You didn't think we had to depend on you guys, did you?"**

**"Well…"**

**"Well, what? You think we can't take care of ourselves?"**

**"Well…"**

**"Oh, really!"**

**"No… No… I know you can take care of yourselves. Why do you think we didn't help you?"**

**Liz gasped.**

**Kyle grinned. "You're digging your hole deeper, Michael. I was married… I know. Give it up. You can't win."**

**"It's okay," Liz said. "I'm just giving you guys a hard time because you didn't show yourselves and we were… concerned… a little… not too much… just a little."**

**"I'm touched," Michael said.**

**"Well, don't let it go to your head," Liz said. "We may not come to save you the next time."**

**"Save us!" Michael exclaimed, his mouth open.**

**Kyle laughed.**

**"Well, they did come looking for us, Michael. You've gotta give 'em that! And they found us. It looks to me like nobody needed saving."**

**"Just don't worry us like that again," Liz said.**

**"I thought you said you weren't too worried…" **

**"I didn't say I was worried, Michael. I just said don't do it again."**

**Michael smiled. "Thanks, Liz."**

**"For what?"**

**"For coming to rescue us."**

**"You're welcome."**

**"Did you, uh, talk to Tess about… you know… the reason we're here, Liz?"**

**"Oh! …yeah, sort of… not completely…"**

**"Liz said you want me to go back with you or something?"**

**"Well, not exactly, Tess," Michael said. "You can't go back right now, but we need you to want to come back… Does that make any sense?"**

**Tess shook her head. "Why do you need me to [b]want[/b] to come back if I can't go back with you?"**

**"Liz? You answer that. You're the one who went to the future and came back with that message. I don't really understand it exactly myself."  
  
**

**"Well… it's what I was told," Liz said. "Max said that we all need to be together for the life we had before to resume the exact course it was on before. If any one of us doesn't want to return to that timeline, then we… that person… won't… and the timeline will be different in ways that we can't totally predict. It's like this… if Tess isn't there… then the work she did on the New Granolith wouldn't have happened in any new timeline that doesn't include her. And anything else she ever did or said there would be…" Liz waved her hands in a gesture that meant, "gone… poof." "If Tess hadn't helped us fix the ship it might have taken longer… or worse, we might not have escaped from Zwolinski's squad."**

**"Yeah," Michael said. "Tess was the one who put a bubble around Zwolinski and the others to keep them from shooting at us anymore and give us the chance to try to save the ones he'd shot. I don't want to think what the adjusted timeline would be like if she hadn't been there then."**

**"I did all that?" Tess asked, her cheeks flushing a rosy pink.**

**"Yeah," Michael said. "You did… and a lot of stuff I can't tell you."**

**"Good or bad?"**

**Michael thought for a moment. He started to say, "In which timeline?" But he decided that would be unfair… not to mention confusing. The timeline he remembered from long ago was no more. In the timeline he hoped to return to, Tess was different… that was the Tess he knew now… or had known… before he screwed up that timeline.**

**"Good," Michael said simply. "All good."**

**"And I have to want to go there? What will happen to me if I don't want to go?"**

**"You'll continue to live your life… the one you're living now… in this timeline," Liz said. "Nothing will change for you because you didn't go…"**

**"Maybe I want it to change," Tess said. "Nobody needs me here. Well, no one but Kivar, but he's not… you know…"**

**"Yeah," Liz said, smiling.**

**"Are you going, Kyle?"**

**Kyle nodded. "I'm crazy, Tess, I know. It's not like me… but when Dad was killed… well, they explained that in the timeline they knew, he didn't get killed. He lived on Amstar…"**

**"Antar," Michael corrected. "Get it right, Kyle. You lived there."**

**"Yeah. Antar," Kyle said. "It's funny, but it's starting to sound right to me… starting to grow on me… you know?"**

**"I came from there," Tess said. "I don't remember it… much, but it's in my DNA, so I would be going home in a way. And I would be with friends… friends who actually need me… not just people I needed… to hide me. I want to go, Liz!"**

**Liz looked at Michael and smiled.**

**"That makes it a full house, Michael."**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah. Well, technically, Jim never agreed to go, but I can't imagine that he wouldn't want to… under the circumstances."**

**"Dad will be glad to be there," Kyle said. "I'll be there."**

**"Good point," Michael said. "So it's a full house. What do we have to do now, Liz?"**

**tbc**


	35. Rath34

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Double Dreamin'**

**Chapter 34**

**XXXIV **

**In spite of what should have been a fairly important victory in his quest, Michael's face appeared tired and sad, and Liz couldn't help but notice.**

**"We're half way there, Michael. Don't give up now."**

**"I'm not giving up, Liz. I don't know what 'give up' means. I'm just… angry with myself…"**

**"For what?"**

**"For screwing up the whole frikkin' time line in the first place. This whole thing is my fault. I had to go off searching for who I was… like some no-brained… airheaded… nincompoop."**

**Liz looked at Michael's tortured face and pursed her lips together tightly as though that would keep the words inside that she wanted so badly to say. It was killing her to keep secrets from Michael, but Liz was dependable… Dependable Liz! It seemed that whatever timeline she was in, Liz could be counted on to be… dependable. When she was still at Roswell High, in the other timeline, she had almost destroyed her relationship with Max. It had torn her apart emotionally… but future Max had told her that the world depended on her forcing Max away from her… so Liz set Max up to think she had slept with Kyle… Dependable. Liz would race into the fires of Hell for those she cared about and never look back… Dependable. Liz would tear her own heart out and walk on it if it would help Max or almost anyone else… but especially Max… Dependable. It wasn't that she was stupid or even naïve. She knew the consequences… perhaps better than anyone. But Liz was, above and beyond all else, Liz… and "Liz" was dependable.**

**Wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye, Liz looked up and smiled. **

**"We'll straighten everything out, Michael. It's going to take some time, but we'll get there. I'm not letting this go. I've got too much invested in it now."**

**Michael smiled slightly but looked downward more than usual… "You wouldn't even exist in this time, Liz… You would still be with Max… with your children… if it weren't for me. None of you would be here in this time. It's my fault. I have to accept that."**

**"We'll talk about that later, Michael. Don't be too hard on yourself. You don't… you may not know all the facts."**

**"I know the facts. I screwed it up for all of us."**

**Liz shook her head slightly… "I need to go somewhere… I'll find you again with the sphere when I know more."**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Liz."**

**Liz bit down on her lower lip and summoned the portal. She stepped into it before saying her destination. She didn't want Michael to know.**

**                                     ************

**As Max stood alone, staring out at the Golden Sea from the balcony of his palace, two hands wrapped themselves around his eyes. Max smiled, and his heart leapt. He reached up and took Liz's hands gently in his then turned to face her. **

**"I've missed you, Liz."**

**"I missed you, too, Max. God, you don't know how I've missed you."**

**Max looked deeply into Liz's eyes, and his lips and hers drew inexorably closer together… then, softly, gently, their lips touched. Liz sighed deeply. She felt that Max was somehow draining all her cares… all her worries… all her pains away. Max felt it, too. Liz opened her lips and put one hand behind Max's head, as she kissed him with all the passion that she had built up inside her… and Max returned her passion… with interest. Liz wrapped both arms around Max's neck, pulling herself tighter into his embrace, and Max reached down and lifted her off the floor into his arms. For a few moments… Liz didn't know how long… he held her there and time stopped. Liz tasted his lips and kisses, and Max tasted hers, drinking in each other's essences like two drunks who couldn't stop. Max carried Liz over to the bed and laid her down on it, then he lay down beside her.**

**"Do you want to check on Jeffy first, Liz?"**

**Liz smiled. "I already did. I stopped by the nursery before I came in here. I didn't want to get interrupted once I got… you know… started on something. I know how hard it is to pull myself away from you."**

**Max kissed her again, and Liz closed her eyes and smiled, savoring the touch she had missed.**

**"Mmmmmm… Max… What are you going to do if Michael straightens the timeline out and this future changes… you know… and… she comes back?"**

**"I'll have two of you, I guess," Max said matter-of-factly.**

**Liz gave him a playful push on the chest. "I don't know, Max. I'm the jealous type. I really don't think I could share you. Isn't there a law against bigamy… on Antar?"**

**"I never checked."**

**"You'd better hope your experts are all correct then and I do become one with my other self… other half… whatever she is… we are… when she comes back."**

**"I became one with my other self," Max said. "Michael did, too… and so did Kyle… when we returned from Earth the first time. We merged with our other selves. The Nogi-Ky'a said that you will, too. We were actually the same person as our counterparts in time… and you're the same Liz… my Liz! You just grew up in a different time and place."**

**"And if they're wrong?"**

**Max looked at Liz, and a smile slowly covered his face. "Well, Liz, you're the only girl I could never get enough of."**

**Liz fell back on her pillow and smiled defeatedly. "You're hopeless, Max. Be serious."**

**"I am serious. There's only one Liz Parker, and that's my Liz Parker… Liz Parker Evans. I couldn't imagine you with anyone else, Liz. Besides… I feel it. When we kiss… when we touch… It's you. Even if you don't have all her… all your memories yet… you're you. I would know you anywhere, Liz… anywhere in the universe… or in time. We were meant to be… together."**

**Liz rolled over and looked into Max's eyes as she slowly traced an imaginary line down Max's chest with a fingertip, stopping at his belt. "I hate keeping the whole truth from Michael, Max. He's suffering a lot. He believes the whole time mess-up was his fault. I really wish I could tell him something."**

**Max swallowed then shook his head. "The Nogi-Ky'a say it could affect the future. I don't know how, but they're experts on time matters. They probably know what they're talking about. Did Michael find any more of the ones they said to look for?"**

**Liz nodded. "All of them. They all want to return."**

**Max sat up suddenly. "All of them?"**

**Liz pushed him back down. "Uh huh."**

**"Then… we have to talk with the Nogi-Ky'a… see what we can do next," Max said. He looked at Liz, and Liz tossed the belt in her hands onto a chair beside the bed… along with her neatly folded blouse. **

**"I know how you feel, Liz… seeing Michael's face… I wish we could tell him it wasn't his fault, too… that the Nogi-Ky'a did it and they're trying to correct their mistake. I just don't want to ruin our chances."**

**Liz nodded. "I know. Me either." She carefully folded Max's pants and laid them on the chair with her blouse. Max smiled. "I would've just tossed 'em on the floor."**

**Liz wrinkled her nose slightly and smiled back at him. "Good thing they were in my hands then, huh?"**

**"I guess. We can go see the Nogi-Ky'a right away… talk to them… whenever you're ready, Liz…"**

**Liz reached over and turned out the light, and for a moment, there was silence in the darkness. **

**Then Max spoke…**

**"Oh! But I guess it can wait."**

**tbc**


	36. Rath35

The Four Faces of Rath 

**If You're Him and He's You… Who Am I**

**Chapter 35**

**XXXV **

**Max looked Durj'ori in the eyes…**

**"Durj'ori, we need answers… straight answers. Michael found everyone you said needed to be found… What are our chances now of this timeline returning to its rightful path?"**

**"Not Michael," the Nogi-K'ya said. "Rath."**

**"What do you mean," Liz asked.**

**"I mean that Michael doesn't exist anymore. At least his body doesn't. When the timeline changed, two things changed for him: Rath was never killed… and Michael was never born."**

**"So that really is Rath I met on Earth?"**

**Durj'ori nodded. **

**"But…" Liz shook her head. "From all that I've heard, Rath was warlike… angry. And besides, he remembers all the people from Roswell! Rath wouldn't even know them!"**

**Durj'ori thought a moment. "It is possible that Rath received Michael's consciousness when Michael ceased to exist. They are the same person… essentially, you know."**

**"But… why is he acting like Michael?"**

**"Michael's consciousness may have pushed Rath's consciousness into the background. But I assure you, it is Rath. The body is. The mind is, too. At least, Rath's mind is there. I believe it is probable that Rath could not cope with having two streams of consciousness active at the same time, one that he was unfamiliar with… so Michael's consciousness became dominant. But that is not to say that he is Michael…"**

**"Thanks for being so specific," Liz mumbled. "Now I'm really confused."**

**"Well, it is a fact that Michael who existed in the timeline he is trying to bring back does not exist at this time. He was never born. It is equally certain that Rath does exist and that Rath is the one you have been in contact with on your planet. The fact that [b]Rath[/b] may have two streams of consciousness in his mind –his and the one that was Michael's- does not alter these facts. Rath has allowed the stream of consciousness that once was Michael to dominate… for the time being. That could change… especially if he becomes aware of the fact that his own stream of consciousness is being suppressed. Right now, it would appear that he believes he is Michael and has allowed that stream of consciousness to dominate. He is undoubtedly unaware that he is doing this."**

**"I studied about split personalities and multiple personalities in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences," Liz said. "But this is still hard to accept."**

**"Michael's stream of consciousness could cease to exist completely," Durj'ori said, "if Rath's consciousness does awaken. It is an aberration that it even exists. There was no Michael in your timeline; therefore, Michael cannot exist. His consciousness must have been overpoweringly strong to survive. Even so, it will only be able to survive so long as Rath does not… or cannot… push it out."**

**"What about me," Max asked. "Am I Max… or Zan?"**

**The Nogi-K'ya looked at him and nodded. "You are Max. Rath changed the timeline for you when he found Liz and she found out that she could use the spheres. Liz's coming here to this future created this timeline that you are in. It's like a bubble… one small bubble… in a huge frothing cauldron full of bubbles. That is why we forbid the Nogi-K'ya to alter time until all the possible ramifications and effects have been studied and determined… and that process can take hundreds of your years."**

**"I'm beginning to see why," Liz said.**

**"If Michael was never born…" Max said, "How is it that I was born in Liz's altered future?"**

**"Do you want the short two-week explanation or the complete, seventy-year explanation?"**

**Max started to speak then decided not to.**

**"Never mind. I probably wouldn't understand it anyway. I'd hate for you to spend seventy years explaining it and then have to ask you to repeat it."**

**Durj'ori smiled. "Why? That happens in our councils all the time."**

**Max and Liz looked at each other, their eyes wide.**

**"But what you should know now," Durj'ori said, "Is that there is a significant danger to you… to your very existence."**

**"What danger," Max asked.**

**"We aren't sure. It may take longer than your lifetime for us to find out. But we have seen it's effects."**

**"What effects," Liz asked.**

**"Extermination…" Durj'ori said. "the complete elimination of all life… all living beings… all living things… on Antar."**

**Max paled visibly. "When?"**

**"We don't know. We believe that it will happen soon. We probably do not have enough time to find out when it will happen exactly before it happens. But it will happen… Unless you can discover what will cause it and prevent it from happening before it happens, the timeline you are attempting to bring back will become a dead timeline… and Antar will become a dead planet."**

**"I need to go to Earth with Liz and tell Rath," Max said.**

**"No! You must not!" Durj'ori said emphatically. "You do not exist in that time! We do not know…"**

**"Oh yeah, that's right. You'd need about three hundred years to determine all the ramifications and effects."**

**"Well… maybe only a hundred and fifty in this case."**

**"It might as well be three hundred," Max said dejectedly. "What do you expect me to be able to do then?"**

**"Liz must return and warn Rath so that he can watch… and you must be wary of anything in this time… this bubble… that might cause disaster."**

**"I don't even know what I'm looking for."**

**"Nor do we," Durj'ori said. "Nor do we. Good luck, my friends."**

**tbc**


	37. Rath36

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Staring Danger In The Face**

**Chapter 36**

**XXXVI **

**Liz walked out of the portal, catching Michael… or Rath, as the case might be… by surprise.**

**"Wha! Liz? Geez! Don't you ever knock? I mean… God, Liz!"**

**Rath quickly turned around and zipped up his fly.**

**"This is the frikkin' men's room, Liz! You can't just pop in here!"**

**"Sorry," Liz said, turning red. "I didn't know… I just asked the portal to take me to you."**

**"Yeah well… it did. It could be worse, I guess. You need to be really specific with that sphere. I think it gets a kick out of embarrassing me."**

**"It just did what I told it to, Michael… I mean… well…"**

**"It could have deposited you outside the men's room door, Liz. It knows what it's doing."**

**"Don't be silly, Michael. It's just a dumb… machine… of a sophisticated sort."**

**"Not so dumb, Liz. Believe me. It wants us to believe that."**

**"You're getting paranoid, Michael."**

**"Well, for good reasons. Has it ever dumped you in the water?"**

**"No."**

**"Well, it has me."**

**"I think it might have done it to my counterpart… in the other timeline," Liz said, remembering something Max had told her.**

**"Oh… yeah, well. See? There you are!"**

**"You just have to be specific, Michael."**

**"Well, you are specifically in the men's room, Liz!"**

**Liz blushed again. Another restaurant patron walked in, took a quick look at Liz, and turned around and walked back out.**

**"Let's get out of here, Liz." **

**"Don't you have to finish… something… you know?"**

**"No! Out!"**

**Liz grinned and turned and walked out the door. Rath followed her out.**

**"You can go in," Rath said to the other patron, who was standing at the door dancing nervously. "My brother's a… kind of a drag queen. I'm getting him help."**

**The man nodded and hurried into the restroom.**

**After paying the bill, Rath left the restaurant and walked down the sidewalk toward the east side of town with Liz beside him.**

**"So did you find out anything new, Liz?"**

**Liz thought a moment and considered what she should tell him.**

**"It's coming along according to plan, Ra… Michael. But it's far from a done thing. And there is some kind of danger ahead for us."**

**"Danger? What kind of danger?"**

**"I don't know. No one did."**

**"Well, that's not much help. What am I supposed to do about it if I don't even know what it is?"**

**"I don't know, Michael. Just keep your eyes open, I guess."**

**Michael nodded. "Well, while you've been gone, I have made some progress."**

**"Oh?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"What? You going to tell me?"**

**"You know, we never had caught the ones who killed the sheriff."**

**"Yeah, I know."**

**"Well, we caught 'em?"**

**Liz stopped and looked at Rath. "You caught them? Who were they?"**

**"A shapeshifter and a couple of Antarian followers of Kivar's."**

**"What did you do with them?"**

**"Zwolinski's got them."**

**Liz stopped again and looked at Rath with disbelief.**

**"You turned them over to Zwolinski?"**

**"Well, not exactly. He was the reason we were able to track them down. Seems Zwolinski decided that helping some aliens in order to get the ones who killed his family was a reasonable trade-off."**

**"And you trust him?"**

**Rath shook his head. "Not on your life. But he seems to be on the level. He was responsible for finding out who did it and flushing them out. I've got to give it to him… the man is resourceful."**

**"Yeah, I know," Liz agreed. "And that scares me all the more."**

**"I'm keeping an eye on him, Liz… and watching my back."**

**"He hasn't tried to double-cross you… or kill you?"**

**"Nope. It's all been on the up and up. I was able to use my powers to help him bring the killers down, but the collar was pretty much all his. That's why he got the suspects."**

**"Suspects, Rath. That word implies uncertainty."**

**"No, they're the ones, Liz. They tried to kill us… and they confessed to killing Valenti."**

**"The way Zwolinski gets confessions?"**

**"No. They were proud of it. They admitted it. The shapeshifter was also involved in the killing of Zwolinski's family when he was little."**

**"Did he say why they did it?"**

**"No. Zwolinski's working on getting that information."**

**Liz shuddered involuntarily. "Well, I guess they deserve it… but I still don't know if I like it, Michael."**

**Liz continued to call Rath Michael, remembering that the Nogi-Ky'a had said that if Rath became aware of who he was and tried to push Michael's consciousness out, Michael could cease to exist.**

**"Zwolinski's actually a pretty nice guy, Liz… after you get to know him."**

**"That scares me even more, Michael!"**

**"Well, he understands that the shapeshifters and Kivar's followers aren't all of the Antarians. He just wants the ones responsible."**

**"I still don't trust him."**

**"That's what Topolsky said. You girls have to learn to let go of the past, Liz."**

**"I can let go… I just don't forget lessons learned."**

**"Forgiveness is a sign of intelligence, Liz."**

**"Well, scientifically, Michael, women use more of their brains than men do."**

**"They need the extra brain space to remember all the things we did years after we did them."**

**"I'm noting things to remember now, Michael."**

**"I'm shutting up."**

**"Good," Liz said, casting Rath a satisfied but menacing smile.**

**"What's Zwolinski going to do to the… suspects?"**

**"I don't know, Liz. I really don't care much. They killed Valenti and a whole family… and who knows who else. And they wanted to kill the royal family and create a dictatorship on Antar."**

**"Isn't that what a king is, Michael?"**

**"No! A king is… a king. A dictator is something else."**

**"Oh."**

**"What if Kivar called himself the king?"**

**"He can't be the king. He isn't descended from the line. And he's a dictator."**

**"Oh, yeah. I forgot."**

**Rath opened the door to Zwolinski's downtown office and motioned Liz in.**

**"I never thought I'd walk in here willingly, Michael."**

**"Is this Liz," Zwolinski asked, smiling. He rushed over and held out his hand to her. Liz pulled back involuntarily but then allowed him to take her hand.**

**"I understand if you don't trust me," Zwolinski said, "but hopefully, I can earn your trust. Michael and I have been working together, and the partnership has been very productive. I don't hold any grudges against other… non-humans, Liz. I just wanted to get the ones responsible for causing mayhem on our planet… the ones that killed my family… I've done that now."**

**Liz nodded. "Where are they?"**

**"At my lab… on the base. It's the only secure place where we could keep them away from civilians that they might hurt."**

**"Did you find out yet why they were interested in your family all those years ago?"**

**Zwolinski's smile disappeared momentarily but then returned. "No… not yet. But I'm working on it."**

**Liz winced. She had an idea what "working on it" meant to Zwolinski. **

**Rath patted Liz on the arm. "I just wanted to bring you here, Liz, so you could meet Zwolinski… and you know… see what we're doing."**

**Liz nodded but said nothing.**

**"We've got to go," Rath said to Zwolinski. "We've got other things to do."**

**"Well, keep in touch, Michael. We need to work more together."**

**"I'll keep it in mind," Rath said. He opened the door, and Liz walked out. Rath followed her. As they left, a humvee drove up, and a special ops agent got out and went into Zwolinski's office. Zwolinski hurried to get the agent a chair.**

**"Don't bother, Zwolinski. I don't have time. I just came to give you a message."**

**"The one I've been waiting for?"**

**The agent nodded.**

**Zwolinski smiled, and his eyes sparkled. "Where is it?"**

**The agent took a small vial out of his breast coat pocket and handed it to Zwolinski.**

**"Excellent! Excellent!" Zwolinski said, as he looked at the silvery, mercurious liquid with small, sparkling threads in it. "I've waited my whole life for this."**

**tbc**


	38. Rath37

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Choice**

**Chapter 37**

**XXXVII **

**Rath and Liz walked along the main street in silence… the main street where the CrashDown still existed in this timeline… The CrashDown… owned by Maria Davis. "Michael" gazed forlornly at the café as they passed by but said nothing. Clearly, he missed Maria, and knowing that she was married in this timeline… to Brody Davis no less… wasn't helping anything. **

**"Michael… what do you plan to do now?"**

**"I'm going back to Antar… maybe for a few days. Zan may be in his nineties, but he's pretty sharp. I imagine he's been working on the problem while I've been away."**

**"You think so?"**

**"Yeah. Why wouldn't he?"**

**"Well, I can think of one reason, Michael. In the time you want to bring back, he doesn't exist. He got killed. So did Ava."**

**Rath stopped and considered Liz's words.**

**"I don't know why, but I never thought of that. Zan's been so helpful… so has Ava. I just thought… I thought… I don't know what I thought."**

**"Well, his helping you, if he is helping you, can only mean extinction for him. Do you think he wants that?"**

**"No… well, I don't know. I mean, no, he doesn't want to stop existing, I'm sure. But he is trying to help me… isn't he?"**

**Liz thought for a few moments. "Yeah, I got the impression he was sincere… Ava, too. I just don't know why. When are you going back?"**

**'Michael' stopped and thought. "Well, there's no time like the present. I guess you can get the sphere to take you back home. I guess you don't need me."**

**Liz smiled. She knew that Rath was right. She didn't need him to "walk her home" or to defend her. Somehow, though, she appreciated that he had considered it.**

**"What are you gonna do first when you get there," Liz asked, wondering how he would approach Zan now that he had considered Zan's situation.**

**"Probably pee," Rath said simply.**

**Liz laughed out loud in spite of herself and blushed slightly. "Sorry, Michael. I forgot all about you…"**

**"Portal," Liz called. The doorway appeared.**

**"Your ride's here, Michael," she said with a smile.**

**"After you, Liz."**

**Liz grinned. "Can it take us both at the same time?"**

**"To different places? I never tried it."**

**Rath took Liz by the hand, and the two of them stepped into the portal together. **

**"Take me home," Liz said… "No, on second thought, take me to Dad's house."**

**"Take me to the palace on Antar," Rath said at the same time. The portal closed, and Rath and Liz were gone.**

**                                    ************

**Liz stepped out of the portal and into the living room of Jeff and Nancy Parker's home. Jeff shook his head as the portal disappeared behind her. **

**"Lizzie, I'm still working on mastering the computer. I don't think I'll ever get used to that… whatever it is… and you popping in here like this through it."**

**Liz hugged her Dad then her Mom, who had just entered the room.**

**"You love it, though, don't you, Dad. Admit it."**

**Jeff smiled then nodded. "I love it that you can stop by whenever you want to now. I just don't understand that thing."**

**"Nobody does, Dad." Liz laughed.**

**On another plane of existence, "Michael" was stepping out of the portal. He looked around, but the surroundings did not look familiar. It definitely wasn't the palace on Antar. In fact, he didn't think it was even Antar. He started to say something, but the portal disappeared, leaving him there. Michael called for the portal to return. There was no reply… and no portal.**

**"Alright, get your bleeping little digital ass back here right now… or whatever kinda ass you've got…" Rath said, finally losing all patience. He waited a few more moments then looked around. It was a very… unusual place… wherever it was. There didn't seem to be anyone else around. It looked like the windswept plains of Mars… only Mars didn't have any rivers… at least he didn't think it did anymore. This place had a river… and trees… here and there. It was something like an oasis in the desert.**

**"Where the crap did that little traitor leave me," Rath wondered out loud.**

**"Here," a voice said behind him. "That is enough for you to know… for now."**

**Rath whirled around to face the source of the voice he had heard.**

**"Who… who are you? Where is 'here?'"**

**The man gestured at their surroundings. "This is 'here.'"**

**"'Here' isn't a place," Rath said with some exasperation in his voice. "'Here' is… is… a preposition… or something. I don't remember. Doesn't this place have a name?"**

**"What use does it have for a name," the man asked. "It is what it is."**

**Rath looked at the man, and slowly the recognition dawned on him.**

**"You… You're that guy… the Drax guy… the Drax… ta-Kiya whatever. You're the master of the river of time."**

**The old man smiled. "No one is the master of the river of time, young man. It is its own master. One can alter it, just as one might shave the hair off of a pawgor. But it will still be a pawgor, and it will still eat you."**

**Rath looked at the old man. His mind was somewhere between being fully Michael's and being Rath's. The words of the Drax-ta-Kiya meant little to him.**

**"You're babbling. That didn't make any sense at all. Why did the portal bring me here? And why won't it respond to me now?"**

**"Perhaps because you needed to be here, Rath."**

**"Michael," Rath corrected.**

**"Suit yourself, but you are not Michael. Michael was never born."**

**Rath thought about what the Drax–ta-Kiya said.**

**"I am Michael. I… I am… I know things… everything… I'm… I'm… Michael… I'm… Rath?"**

**"Yes. You are Rath… and Michael."**

**"You're crazy, old man," Rath said. Make up your mind."**

**"You have the memories… the aura… of Michael within you… along with your own aura."**

**"No."**

**"Yes."**

**"I don't want to be Rath!"**

**"That is irrelevant."**

**"I'm… Rath?"**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya nodded.**

**"Oh, shit."**

**"Irrelevant," the Drax-ta-Kiya said. **

**"If I'm Rath… where is Michael… me… my body… you know?"**

**"Never born," the old man said plainly.**

**Rath stood there momentarily, trying to absorb this new information.**

**"But, how…?"**

**"Irrelevant," the old man said again. "That you are what you are is all that matters."**

**"Yeah, well, fine, but what is that? Who is that? You tell me I'm Rath, but I remember Michael… and… and maybe… Rath…"**

**"You see? You are Rath."**

**"How is Michael able to be here… with me?"**

**"You allowed it… and Michael was strong."**

**"I'm stronger! I can throw him out."**

**"Then you admit that you are Rath?"**

**Rath thought about it. "Yes," he said at end. "I am Rath."**

**"Then throw Michael out… if that is what you wish to do."**

**"I will," Rath said.**

**"Well?"**

**"Well… give me time. Okay, what if I'm not ready to throw him out?"**

**"Why not? He's taking over your body. You are Rath. Do you not want to control your own body… your own thoughts?"**

**"You know I do."**

**"Then you must throw Michael out."**

**"I… I can't."**

**"Why not?"**

**"I don't want to. I don't know why… but I don't want to."**

**"Who doesn't want you to? You… or Michael?"**

**"Me… Michael… Both of us."**

**"You can't be both, Rath. You must choose. Will you give up your existence for Michael?"**

**"No! Of course not! I am Rath! I am me!"**

**"Then choose, Rath. Who will you be?"**

**tbc**


	39. Rath38

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Choice, Part 2**

**Chapter 38**

**XXXVIII **

**Rath grimaced then yelled, like a man in pain.**

**"I can't. I don't want to change."**

**"Change what, Rath?"**

**"Me. I want to exist… now."**

**"Then you know what will happen."**

**"Yes."**

**"And Michael," the Drax-ta-Kiya said, addressing Michael's consciousness, "What is it that you want?"**

**"I want to exist… I want to bring back the time I lived in… Maria, my children, Max, Liz, and all the others."**

**"Will you destroy Rath to bring back your time… your existence?"**

**"I… I can't."**

**"Why can't you?"**

**"Because… I am Rath."**

**"Are you not Michael? You went in search of who you are. What did you learn? Is Michael who you want to be? Or do you still want to be Rath?"**

**"I don't want to be Rath. I never did."**

**"Didn't you?"**

**"No. Of course not."**

**"Then why did you search for that part of you?"**

**Michael was silent for a time. Then he spoke hesitantly…**

**"I am Michael… and I am Rath. I don't want to destroy Rath. I just want to be me. I had to know who is 'me.'"**

**"And who is 'you?'"**

**"Michael. I'm Michael."**

**"Does Michael exist?"**

**"Michael exists in me."**

**"In Rath's body?"**

**Michael thought about it. "It's me."**

**"Then who was calling himself Rath? How does Michael exist if he was never born?"**

**"I'm supposed to be asking you the questions! You're the master of time and all! Why are you asking me?"**

**"Because a future depends on your answers… on your choices."**

**"I'm tired of making choices."**

**"Are you tired of being Michael?"**

**"No. I didn't say that."**

**"But you sought out your past self. Why?"**

**"Curiosity."**

**"Are you sure that's all it was?"**

**"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"**

**"That is the question. Why wouldn't it be? What is the answer, Michael? Or is it Rath?"**

**Michael thought a moment. "It's Michael. I don't know how I exist if I wasn't ever born… but I know it's me."**

**"Good. You are indeed Michael. And Rath?"**

**"Rath… Rath still exists… in his own time."**

**"What time is that?"**

**"The past…"**

**"Then where are you?"**

**Michael looked around and thought about it a few moments…**

**"I must be in my own time."**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya nodded. Michael looked at his surroundings. They did not appear to have changed.**

**"This place doesn't change, Dad."**

**Michael swung around. Kryys stood there, smiling. **

**"Kryys! Omigod, it's so great to see you again! Where have you been," Michael cried, not trying to hide his joy, hugging his son.**

**"Working on getting things back like they belonged, Dad… with the Drax-ta-Kiya."**

**"I thought the Nogi-Ky'a were doing that. They seemed to think they caused the rift in time."**

**"They did, Dad. And they were working on it. In about 183 years, they'll figure it out. I didn't think you wanted to wait that long."**

**Michael laughed and brushed tears off his cheek.**

**"You're right, Kryys. What are these? Tears? I thought we were… what do you call it? Incorporeal? Bodiless… here in this place."**

**"We are. But we have our own forms here, of a sort… and tears… and joy."**

**Michael hugged Kryys again, and the tears flowed silently down his face.**

**"Did I change time back just by making a choice," Michael asked the Drax-ta-Kiya, as he held Kryys tightly to him.**

**"No. Kryys and I fixed it. You had to, how can I put it, open the door, that's all."**

**"So you fixed the timeline… I just couldn't see it?"**

**"You had to open the door to go in, Michael. You had to come to terms with who you are… in your own time."**

**Michael nodded. "I think I understand. I've always been repulsed by my ties to Rath, but at the same time, I've always been fascinated by them. I think… what I've learned is that…"**

**"Yes?" the Drax-ta-Kiya prodded.**

**"…that I was both repulsed and fascinated by my own past… all of it, not just Rath. That I was repulsed by my upbringing… with Hank, you know. I didn't have real parents… just Hank. I wasn't… normal. I was the outcast… the weird-o. But I became what I am… and I married Maria… and I have Kryys here… and the others." Michael kissed Kryys on the cheek. "So I loved my life and rejected it at the same time. I loved what I had and didn't want to lose it."**

**"That's pretty simplified," the Drax-ta-Kiya nodded, "but that, basically, is the dilemma that you had created for yourself."**

**"I understand. Hank wasn't like a real parent, but I'm the one who created my own… dilemma or whatever. I'm not Hank. I'm me… and I'm Rath… in a sense. And I've come to terms with that now. It doesn't repulse me. I understand Rath now."**

**"Good. That is good. One must come to terms with themselves. That is always the way. For you, it was harder."**

**"Can we go home, Kryys?"**

**Kryys smiled and took Michael by the hand. As he did, both dissolved into a swirling maelstrom of a billion brilliant atoms. Then they disappeared. **

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled then breathed in deeply with satisfaction. His sightless eyes seemed happy, as he, too, dissolved into a billion tiny fiery atoms then reappeared on his own balcony overlooking the beautiful Valley of Jeroglasst. The Drax-ta-Kiya let the breeze blow over his face, as he surveyed the valley below him with whatever sense he used. It wasn't sight, as we know it. But he saw everything… everything. And he smiled.**

**tbc**


	40. Rath39

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Homecoming**

**Chapter 39**

**XXXIX **

**A swirling stream of atoms poured into the country home of Michael and Maria Guerin. The atoms came through the ceiling and through the walls, as brilliant as a thousand candles, lighting the living room brighter than it had ever been lit. Then, the swirling molecules began to coalesce, some turning into Michael… others, his son, Kryys.**

**Michael looked around him at the familiar setting and smiled… then he hugged Kryys, who was now as solid as any normal little boy. At that moment, Maria walked into the living room…**

**"Well… the wandering husband has returned… and with our wayward child!" **

**Maria grinned. "Where have you two been? Dinner's almost ready. Are you hungry?"**

**"I could eat a yorik, Mom," Kryys said enthusiastically with a smile a mile wide. **

**"I think that goes for me, too," Michael agreed. "For some reason, I'm starved!"**

**Hugging Maria to him, Michael kissed her passionately.**

**"Woah," Maria gasped after she got her breath back. "Okay, you can go off once in a while, I guess… if you come back like this. You ready to eat?"**

**Kryys nodded with a smile.**

**Michael nodded, too. "Promise me, Maria, that you'll never marry Brody Davis."**

**Maria looked at Michael and raised her eyebrows. "Ooo-kay… I promise. What brought that on?"**

**"Nothing. I just wanted to be sure."**

**"Well, I married you, space boy, and I don't intend to let you go. And besides, you're a handful enough for me. Anyway, you know Brody was just a… a friend. I'd never have married him!"**

**"We never know what might have been, Maria," Michael said. "We never know."**

**Maria shook her head and smiled, scrunching her brow in an amused sort of way. "No way. Come on, let's eat."**

**Michael nodded. "But first," he said, heading for the bathroom, "I've been holding something for too long… and for two people, I think."**

**Maria's eyes followed him with an amused but slightly perplexed look. "You sure something didn't happen to you while you were away, Michael?"**

**"Well, a lot happened, actually," Michael yelled back from the bathroom. "Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime… or maybe you'll remember."**

**"Okay," Maria said, "now that just sounds like something I should know about. Spill it cowboy. What about me? And why should I remember… and what is it that I should remember?"**

**"Well, I didn't say you would," Michael said, walking back into the dining room after a couple of minutes. "I just said you might."**

**"Well, how 'bout enlightening me a bit."**

**"Sit down."**

**"It's that strange, huh?"**

**"Depends, I guess."**

**"On what?"**

**"Whether you live in the Twilight Zone or not." Michael softly intoned the opening strains from the old TV show, "Da, da, da, da… Da, da, da, da."**

**Maria looked at Kryys. "Did you take your Dad into that Never Neverland or whatever it is you go to, Kryys… with the Drax guy?"**

**Kryys just smiled.**

**"Okay… how do I fit into this," Maria asked, pouring Michael a cup of coffee and shoving a new bottle of Tabasco sauce toward him across the table. Michael took the lid off and poured several ounces into his coffee then added two teaspoons of sugar. **

**"Well, it's kind of a long story," Michael said, stirring his coffee-Tabasco mix.**

**"We've got a long time," Maria said.**

**Michael smiled then leaned over and kissed Maria… **

**"Yeah! Yeah, we do, don't we." **

**His face seemed to light up, and Maria felt the happiness radiating outward from him almost palpably. It made Maria happy, too, and she leaned over and kissed Michael back.**

**                                      ************

**In the gardens den of the royal palace in CoruzAntar, Liz was sitting on Max's lap with both arms around his neck as he went about trying to explain what he had to do in the afternoon… between occasional pauses for… sustenance. Max started to talk again, and Liz stopped him in mid-sentence with her lips on his. Max paused again and enjoyed the moment in spite of himself.**

**"Geez, Liz," he said, coming up for air after a few moments, "what's got you all revved up today?"**

**"What? Can't I show my affection, Max?"**

**"Well, sure… I mean… you know I can't get enough of it… of you. I'm not complaining, mind you. It's just that I can barely get a word in. Don't you want to hear what my plans are for the afternoon?"**

**"Maybe… after I'm finished…" Liz placed her lips on Max's again, and Max surrendered with a smile.**

**"Ahem…"**

**Kyle stood in the entrance to the gardens den. Max looked over at him with one eye but continued to kiss Liz… or to enjoy her kiss.**

**"Ahem!"**

**"What is it, Kyle," Max said at last, smiling somewhat like a child who had been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.**

**"You have guests, Max. Michael and Maria."**

**"Oh! Okay… well, send 'em in, Kyle!"**

**Kyle nodded and grinned. He seemed to enjoy catching Max and Liz in their "playful" moments.**

**Liz jumped up to hug Maria as she came into the room with Michael.**

**"How's it goin' bro," Max asked, slapping Michael's hand playfully.**

**"Good. Good. No complaints, Max."**

**"What you been up to, Michael? Anything new?"**

**"Maybe."**

**"Maybe?"**

**"Yeah, well…" Michael looked at Liz, trying to ascertain whether this was the Liz he had been working with back on Earth to get them back to Antar in their own time or whether this Liz was the pure original and unaware of anything that had happened recently. Finding Liz sitting on Max's lap involved in… heavy petting… was not particularly unusual. True, Michael didn't see Liz on Max's lap… she had already got up by the time he came in… but he knew. Something written all over their faces always told him. Maybe it was the smiles that still lingered on their faces like steam in a sauna.**

**Liz looked back at Michael and smiled. Was it a "knowing" smile or just a "glad to see you guys" smile. Michael couldn't be sure.**

**"Max… do you have any… you know… unusual memories?"**

**"Well, I saw Carrot-top and Mister T sing _Blue Moon_ and _Yankee Doodle Dandy_ together in Central Park when I was in New York."**

**Michael just looked at Max. "Not bizarre, Max… That would be bizarre. I just meant unusual."**

Max shook his head slowly and raised his eyebrows slightly. "Unusual… how?"

**"Like, you know, memories from another lifetime or something."**

**Max was silent for a moment. "Maybe you'd better tell me what it is I'm supposed to remember, Michael."**

**Michael looked at Maria and she nodded.**

**"Well, Max, maybe you'd better be sitting down. It's kind of a long story."**

**Max nodded acceptingly. "Okay." He sat down, and Liz sat beside him, cozying up to him. Michael looked at Liz's eyes again.**

**"_Does she know? What does she remember_," Michael wondered to himself. "_She must remember something_." Liz smiled but said nothing. "_Maybe she doesn't remember…"_**

**"So what were you going to tell us, Michael," Max asked, bringing Michael back to reality.**

**"Oh! Yeah, well… you know, I was gone for a while…"**

**"Yeah… You went off to search for yourself. I see you're here, so I guess you must have found yourself, huh?"**

**Michael looked at Max.**

**"Sorry, Michael. I'm just getting into this playful mood that Liz has been in, I think. What did you find out? We'd really like to know."**

**Michael nodded, glancing again at Liz. He still couldn't tell…**

**"Max, a lot happened after I left. Time got totally screwed up. I thought it was my fault, but it turned out to be some guys called Nogi-Ky'a that were responsible. They tried to fix it, but it was taking them too long, and Kryys and the Drax fixed it for them. That's the short version."**

**"I'd say so," Max agreed. "Somehow I think there's a lot more I haven't heard."**

**Michael nodded and began to tell Max about everything that had happened… everything that he remembered personally, that is. Liz's life with Max in the future was an unknown to Michael. She never shared those details with him. Michael only knew that she had met Max in the future.**

**When Michael had finished, Max looked at Liz sitting beside him. "Do you remember anything, Liz?"**

**Liz smiled and looked fleetingly at Michael. "I remember some things, Max, but it's more like a dream to me. I remember trying to get here… to you. I don't quite remember all the details… And there was something else…"**

**"What," Max asked.**

**"I don't know," Liz said, her smile fading and her face assuming a worried look. "It's like there's something I should remember… something… important. I just can't remember what it is."**

**Max nodded. "Well, maybe it'll come back to you. Don't worry about it."**

**Liz shook her head. "It was important. How could I forget?"**

**"It was a different life, Liz," Max said soothingly. "You can't be expected to remember everything from a whole different life."**

**"It was important," Liz insisted, her face becoming somber. "I know I should remember… but…"**

**"Do you have any idea what she's trying to remember, Michael," Max asked.**

**Michael shook his head then sneezed suddenly.**

**"Gesundheit," Maria said automatically.**

**"Are you okay," Max asked.**

**"Yeah. Why shouldn't I be?"**

**"Well, I don't think I ever heard you sneeze before, Michael. Come to think of it, I've never heard any Antarian sneeze. We're immune to colds and stuff."**

**"Maybe you've got… dust or something, Max," Michael said, but he knew that the palace was meticulously maintained. He'd have had a hard time finding any dust if he'd looked all day.**

**"Don't worry about it, Max. It's nothing, just a sneeze, a common sneeze. I just got back from Earth. Maybe in that different time I was in, the climate was different… or something."**

**"Okay," Max said. But he was clearly not convinced. "Maybe you ought to have an Antarian health maintenance scientist check you out anyway."**

**"Give it a break, Max. It was just a sneeze. We don't go the doctor here for check-ups."**

**"No, but they are responsible for making sure that we stay healthy… as a world, you know."**

**"If it'll make you happy, I'll tell Varec I sneezed next time I see him. When he says, "Yeah, so?" I'll say, "I told you so," Max. "You worry too much."**

**"I've got a whole world to worry about," Max said seriously.**

**"Yeah, okay," Michael said with resignation. "I'll have Varec check me out and certify me. You happy?"**

**Max nodded and smiled. "I think it's a good idea. If it's nothing, there's nothing lost in getting checked."**

**Michael nodded.**

**"Well, Max… Maria and I'd better go," Michael said, looking at Liz cuddled up beside Max. Michael smiled. "I'll let you two get back to… whatever it was you were doing."**

**"Thanks, Michael," Max said with a sheepish grin. "Don't be strangers, okay?"**

**Michael nodded. Maria kissed Liz on the cheek, and the two of them left.**

**"Now, where were we," Liz asked, turning to Max, her face regaining its joyful appearance.**

**"I was about to carry you up to the bedroom," Max said.**

**"Ooh! Right!" Liz grinned. Max picked her up in his strong arms. Liz put her arms around Max's neck and kissed him as he walked to the wide staircase and carried her up toward their night suite. Half way up, Max faltered then stopped momentarily.**

**"Why are we stopping, Max?"**

**"It's nothing Liz." Max took another few steps up the stairs then stopped again.**

**"What's the matter, Max," Liz asked, beginning to feel concerned.**

**Max shook his head. "I've got a headache, Liz."**

**"Oh, that's supposed to be my line, Max! You're not getting out of this that easy," Liz said playfully. **

**Max stepped backward, as if trying to keep his balance, then he collapsed, with Liz on top of him, on the stairs. **

**"Max! Max! What's the matter? Kyle! KYLE! I NEED YOU!"**

**Kyle came running.**

**"Get a doctor, Kyle… or something. Get Varec! Max is…"**

**Kyle checked Max's pulse, then without saying a word, he ran.**

**tbc**


	41. Rath40

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Never Never Land**

**Chapter 40**

**XL **

**Max didn't want to, but he managed to force his eyes open through the sheer power of his will. What he wanted to do was just keep them closed and submit to the inevitable… peacefully. It would have been so much easier… so much less… painful. **

**_Light! Bright light!_**** It hurt… _Excruciating!_ Max looked up from where he lay. He was surrounded by fog. Through the fog, everything was blurry… even the faces. Faces? Not faces. Something… but what?**

**Whatever it was leaned over him. Huge eyes. Nose, too! …huge, and bulbuous. Its mouth was flexible… it curled around and reached back… like… an insect's proboscis? A sort of sucker… like a butterfly's. Definitely no butterfly. Too big! Too… ugly! _Go away!_ He couldn't speak. He moaned slightly. And the monster spoke. Or whatever it was. What was it saying? He couldn't understand. Maybe an alien language. Didn't sound familiar to him. Just noises. Unintelligible noises. Hisses and grunts. **

**Max tried to form words with his parched lips, "_Let me up."_ The giant insect mumbled back with something unintelligible again. It could hear him. Did it understand him? He didn't know. What was it? There were others. More giant insects. Max noticed that they all had humps on their backs and that their hands were like giant claws. And they had wings… well, maybe not wings. Max couldn't be sure.**

**One of the giant "bugs" opened its wings and removed something from under them. Okay, they had wings. Big white wings. Their bodies were white, too. Their faces were mostly black. Max wanted to do something… anything. But he couldn't.**

**Max followed the insectoid aliens with his eyes. His eyes were about the only part of him that he could get to move. He felt like lead. Heavy. Nailed to the… what was it? A bed? A cot? Something. Whatever. He was nailed to it… or glued to it. He couldn't move a muscle. Why was he even trying? It just hurt. _Too much pain._ Max closed his eyes. _Why can't I die?_ **

**~~~Liz~~~ The thought just popped into his head. Where did it come from? He didn't remember. _Liz!_ He couldn't die. He mustn't die. Not yet. Not now. _But the pain! Too much pain._**

**One of the giant bugs reached down and restrained Max's right arm with its claw. It wasn't necessary. Max couldn't move to do anything. The bug wrapped its claw around Max's arm… tight… tighter… still tighter… _More pain! It's cutting off my arm with its pincer! _The pain subsided then the pressure went away. Was the arm still there? Did they cut it off? The bug walked away. It wasn't carrying his arm. Maybe it didn't cut it off. Maybe he still had it. He couldn't feel it.**

**Another bug came over and rolled Max onto his side. _What? No! Dear God! No! Not that!_ The bug removed something like a patch from Max's back then rolled him back onto his back again. Max almost felt relief, but his head was pounding too much. And something in the room was making a loud clanging sound. The clanging would drive him crazy if the bugs didn't kill him first.**

Let me die! Just let me die! What are you doing to me? What are you? What do you want with me? Am I some kind of biology experiment for a bunch of giant 'bugs'? Let me die in peace. 

**~~~Liz~~~**

**Max moaned.**

**One of the bugs leaned over Max and put something into his nose. He felt a spray enter his sinuses and lungs. It choked him. He gagged and began to cough. _What do you want? Who are you?_**

**Max closed his eyes then opened them again after a moment. The fog was going away. It was still there but definitely diminishing. _Will the bugs go away, too?_ Max actually felt hope. _Then I can die in peace._**

**~~~Liz~~~**

**Max moaned slightly. _Mustn't die._**

**Actually, the pain seemed to have subsided somewhat. It was merely comparable to a severe migraine now. Max had never had a migraine, so he had nothing to compare it to. Max had never even had a headache! Ever! Not even a mild one. Even after he got drunk from that single taste of alcohol that time on Earth, he hadn't had a headache afterwards… no hangover as would have been expected.**

**~~~Liz~~~**

**_I must be strong! Can't die here! Must fight back!_**

**Max opened his eyes. The fog was gone. One of the bugs turned to him and reached under its wing to take something out again… only it wasn't a wing, it was… a cloak… a white coat of some kind. The bug took a clasp from under its cloak and placed it around Max's arm again. Instantly, the pressure returned. _Pain… but bearable. Maybe not pain… just… pressure._**

**"One-ten over sixty-two."**

**_That was Antarian. Who said that?_**

**The bug looked at Max. It wasn't a bug. But… Antarian? Not with that face! Max looked again. A mask… a breathing device with a large filter and a hose leading to a tank on the back. All of them had one on. And one of them had some kind of meter in its hand that made a soft, almost inaudible, rhythmic clicking sound like the tic tock of a watch. The clanging!**

**"Can you hear me," the alien asked.**

**Max was surprised that he was able to understand.**

**"Who are you," Max managed to ask feebly. "What do you want?"**

**"He's conscious," the alien said to the others. "He spoke."**

**The aliens all gathered around Max. Max could see their eyes through the masks. They were smiling. And one of them actually had tears in its eyes. **

**~~~Liz~~~**

**"Liz?" Max tried to speak. His mouth was still dry, and it was hard to move his tongue properly.**

**"I'm here, Max. Stay with us. Fight it! You can do it!"**

**_Fight what?_**** "Liz! Where am I? What happened?"**

**"Just rest, Max. There'll be time for that. Just rest. I love you, Max."**

**"I love you… too," Max whispered hoarsely through his parched lips. "You're the only reason I held on, Liz… the only reason… What happened?"**

**Liz knew that Max would not rest or stop asking what had happened until he knew. He could be stubborn. He had a whole planet to worry about. It was probably a necessary trait for one in his position.**

**"We're working on it, Max," Liz said. "It's an unusual virus hybrid. It produces a toxic reaction in the body that causes hallucinations, paralysis, illness… and death. No one has ever seen anything like it here."**

**"Where… where did I get it?"**

**"We're not sure, Max. We think Michael brought it back from Earth."**

**"Michael doesn't catch viruses."**

**"Not just any virus, Max… but this one was specifically engineered to affect Antarian physiology, we think."**

**"Where would Michael have picked up something like that? Did you ask him?"**

**Liz didn't answer.**

**"Is Michael…?"**

**"He's alive, Max. He's… in a coma. Maria's with him… and a team of health scientists."**

**"Why didn't you get sick, Liz?"**

**"I did, but in me it was mild… and brief. I had just enough Antarian DNA from my past to become infected. You and Michael have more. It affected you more severely."**

**"Then… what about… full-blooded…"**

**"It's been brutal, Max. We managed to contain it, we think, but…" Liz paused momentarily.**

**"I have to know, Liz."**

**"Several thousand have died. Many more are desperately ill."**

**Max buried his face in his hands, and tears rolled silently down his face.**

**"How did this happen, Liz? How? How long have I been… indisposed?"**

**Liz shook her head. "It's been three weeks since you and Michael lapsed into comas. Others all over Antar began to become ill almost immediately. Varec and the others are working on it. Three factories have gone into full time production making these contamination suits. We've got them to almost everyone now… everyone left… who's not already sick."**

**"Varec?"**

**"I'm here, Max," Varec said, stepping back beside Max. "Try not to worry. We're handling everything. I'm sorry that we can't take the masks off, Max. It could be deadly to any of us if we caught the virus."**

**Max tried to nod. "I understand."**

**"Liz?"**

**"Mine's a precaution, Max… both ways… so I don't give it to anyone else and so I don't get reinfected. We just don't know what this virus is capable of."**

**"I need to get out of here, Liz. I'm needed…"**

**"Whoa! Whoa!" Varec said, touching Max on the chest. It wasn't necessary to restrain him. The fact is, Max still could barely make a muscle move. And every attempted movement produced excruciating pain. "You aren't going anywhere till you're better, Max."**

**Max groaned. "I hate this! I want to say just watch me and walk out of here… but I can't do anything about it."**

**"Right," Varec said. "So relax and try to get well."**

**"I can't relax, Varec. You know that."**

**Varec smiled. "I know, but I have to say it. I think it's a law or something."**

**"I'll repeal it," Max moaned. But he knew Varec was right. Max wasn't going anywhere. At least not for now.**

**tbc**


	42. Rath41

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Decon Team Antar**

**Chapter 41**

**XLI **

**The door opened softly, and Maria turned to look at the new decontamination-suited figure entering the room. It was Liz. Somehow Maria knew, even with the bulky suits that they both wore. Maybe it was the way Liz carried herself. Maybe it was her walk. Maybe it was some kind of connection that the two of them shared. Whatever it was, Maria knew.**

**"Liz!"**

**"Maria… How's Michael doing?"**

**Maria shook her head. "Not good, Liz. I'm worried."**

**Liz could see that Maria was shaking. She knew that it wasn't from the virus. Maria hadn't been affected by the virus… at least, not that anyone could tell. But she still wore the suit as a precaution… and to avoid spreading it to others… others who could get it… and who might die.**

**Liz hugged Maria as best she could through the bulky suits. Somehow it wasn't very satisfying. But it would have to do.**

**"He's still in a coma," Maria said, her voice breaking. "How's Max?"**

**"He's starting to come out of it, Maria. Maybe Michael will, too."**

**Liz looked at Michael, and Maria picked his hand up in her bulky, gloved hand. Somehow Maria's touch seemed gentle, caressing, even with the gloves on. **

**Michael looked so pale… almost ashen. He lay on the small hospital-style bed… so still. It scared Liz. She could only imagine how Maria must feel. She knew how she felt with Max.**

**"Michael's going to make it, Maria. He's got to. We just have to believe."**

**"I try, Liz. You know I do. I don't want to have negative thoughts. But…" Maria started to cry softly… "Look at him, Liz. He's more dead than alive now."**

**Liz looked at Michael again. She wanted to comfort Maria, reassure her. But what could she say? The still, ashen figure lying in front of them spoke more than any amount of words could. Liz looked at Maria's face, streaming with tears inside the mask.**

**"Screw this, Maria!" **

**Liz reached up and removed her own facemask and head covering then stripped out of her bulky decon suit. She was wearing a simple pair of short pants and one of Max's shirts that hung loosely over the shorts. Maria took her mask and suit off, too, and hugged Liz to her. Then she cried.**

**"Liz…" Maria said after a few moments, her voice catching momentarily. She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't think I can go on if Michael dies…"**

**"You can, Maria. You're strong. Stronger than you know. But let's not talk about Michael dying. He's going to make it. Just keep saying that!" Liz rubbed her hands up and down Maria's back as she held her close in a gentle embrace. She wiped another tear off of Maria's cheek and pressed her cheek to Maria's. "Have faith in Michael, Maria. I don't know how, but somehow Michael will come through… He has to."**

**"I keep saying that, Liz. The hard part is believing it… especially when I look at him lying there like that."**

**Liz brushed a tear from her own cheek. "Try to think of his spirit when you look at him, Maria… his strong, vibrant spirit. He's still here. We just have to pull him through this."**

**Maria nodded. **

**A decon-suited face peered through the small window in the door, then the new visitor knocked.**

**"We'd better get our suits back on, Maria. The doctors are back."**

**Maria nodded. "Thanks, Liz." **

**Liz smiled and replaced her facemask, and Maria replaced hers, then both girls replaced their suits.**

**"I needed that," Maria said softly. **

**The face in the door window waited until the two girls were completely suited then came into the room. One could hardly blame them for their caution. No one on Antar had ever lived through a plague like this. The results were horrifyingly obvious to everyone now. It was something that no one wanted to take a chance with or experience themselves. In fact, in the case of full-blooded Antarians, it appeared that few would ever be able to say that they had experienced it. Almost all those who had contracted it had died already. The only real hope the Antarians had was to avoid getting it.**

**Three health scientists and two Sh'dax-ats, or "cosmic scientists," of which Varec was one, entered the room, dressed in full decon suits. The term "Sh'dax-at" didn't actually translate well from the Antarian. It meant "one who is cosmically aware," and in all the known galaxies there were maybe a dozen at most. Varec was one. ****Danar-Sol, the preeminent medical researcher and biologist of Xarius, was another****. In simpler terms, sh'dax-at meant one who knew everything there was to know in the cosmos… well, everything that any one person could be expected to ever learn anyway. It was a title of singular and great honor. On all of Antar, there were only two scientists who had attained the level and title of Sh'dax-at, and both of them were here in this room now.**

**Liz touched Varec on the arm, and he looked at her. His eyes looked tired. But they also shone keenly with something else… genuine and overpowering compassion. Varec was suffering almost as much as Liz and Maria were… perhaps not in the same way, but suffering all the same. Michael and Max were very close to him. But Varec suffered with the feelings of every Antarian. He especially bore the scars left by the ones who hadn't made it. He felt that he had lost members of his family… his children. He felt… responsible.**

**"We're going to beat this," Liz said encouragingly. Varec smiled feebly and nodded. He did not seem convinced.**

**"Put the Kiren mist into his lungs," Varec said to one of the health scientists, a young woman about Liz's age. She placed a bag-like device under Michael's nose and pressed the bottom, sending a poof of powdery mist into Michael's nose and lungs. Michael did not move.**

**"We've done this three times today," Varec said to Liz and Maria. "It hasn't had any visible effect, I'm afraid."**

**"They put that into Max's lungs," Liz said to Maria, "and it seemed to help him. He started to come around shortly after they did it."**

**Maria nodded.**

**"We're hoping it may be the cure," Liz said.**

**"Where did it come from," Maria asked.**

**"Varec, Ayr'gith, and I created it. It seems to help some individuals. We called it the Kiren mist, because the principal ingredient in the substance that it's made from comes from the planet Kiren from the invisible roots of the corschar fungus that grows there on the bottoms of logs that have lain for a hundred years or more on the soft ground of the Farv'yat Forest."**

**"Have you cured many people?"**

**Liz looked visibly saddened, and she shook her head. "We think Max may be out of danger. Besides him, there were two little boys from the Jarnat Region who responded to the mist and are now apparently well… and they're full Antarians. But they were young… ten and twelve years old. We're working now on a possible second generation mist using antibodies from their blood and combining the antibodies with the Kiren mist."**

**"Have you cured anyone else?"**

**Liz shook her head. "Except for these three cases, the best we've been able to do is keep some people alive… for now. It's… it's just not enough."**

**Maria rubbed Liz's arm with her glove. "That's something, Liz. Those people would be dead now if it weren't for you and Varec… and Ayr'gith."**

**"I know… but a lot of others are dead. We need more to fight this with. It's just not enough."**

**"Ma… Maria." **

**It was almost inaudible, especially through the decon suits, but Maria heard it.**

**"Michael?" Maria rushed to Michael's side. He didn't appear to be as ashy white as he had been. Some of the color was coming back. Michael opened his eyes. "Maria, I feel like shit. I feel like a herd of yeggs trampled me down and stomped on my head over and over."**

**Maria began to laugh.**

**"It's not funny," Michael tried to say through his parched lips and airway.**

**"I know, Michael. I'm laughing because I love you," Maria said, "and you're alive!" She reached down and put her head, mask and all, next to Michael's and hugged him.**

**"I'm thirsty," Michael said. "Can I get something to drink?"**

**"I'll get you a little water," Varec said.**

**"Could you… could you… put just a little Tabasco in it… for flavor?"**

**"He's gonna make it," Liz said, smiling. Maria nodded, and tears ran freely down her face.**

**tbc**


	43. Rath42

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Snake**

**Chapter 42**

**XLII **

**I****t had been four weeks since Max and Michael had been officially certified free of the virus. Dan, Diane, Liz, Max, Michael, Maria, Jim, Kathleen, Kyle, Jeliya, Alex, Isabel, Tess, Rayylar, Jeff, Nancy, Philip, Diane, and the Whitmans all sat around the fire at Jim and Kathleen's ranch estate. Kathleen and Jeliya served everyone coffee or a drink of Snapples and jubish and some light Antarian Jaht-Roo cookies with chilled japo-mevanish, a chilled version of the famous Antarian flaming flan (also known as refrigerated left-overs).**

**Having no Antarian DNA, Dan, Jim, Kathleen, Alex, Jeff, Nancy, the Whitmans, and Philip and Diane Evans had proven to be immune to the virus. Maria had suffered a runny nose and a bad headache. No one was sure why she was affected, but she was. Jeliya, Kyle's wife, had been in a coma but survived, thanks to the Kiren mist that Varec, Ayr'gith, and Liz developed, thankfully just in time in her case, as in Max and Michael's. Tess had escaped being infected, apparently because she and Rayylar had received decon suits in time before she was exposed; but her husband, Rayylar, caught it anyway and almost died from the virus. He, too, was saved by the Kiren mist. Liz had had a mild to moderate case, a bit more severe than Maria's, but she had never stopped going, even helping to develop the cure while she suffered with the effects of the virus. Diane Casey Klein had contracted a light case of the virus, which in retrospect, might have been foreseen, since she was, after all, one of the "Antarians Too," the humans who had residual Antarian DNA in them. Kyle came down with a light case. Everyone surmised that it must have been because of Max healing him years before. However, Max healed Jim, too, as well as several others later, yet none of them contracted the virus. **

**"How many have you saved so far," Dan Klein asked Liz.   **

**"So far," Liz said, "1,477 Antarians have been certified free of the virus after having had it. That doesn't count Max and Michael. They're technically not full-blooded Antarians, since their DNA is mixed with Earth DNA."**

**"That's wonderful, Liz, Diane said.**

**Liz frowned. "No, it really isn't, Diane, when you consider that over thirty thousand have died… 30,283." Liz added this exact count for no particular reason, but the fact is that she knew the number down to the last individual. She couldn't seem to help it. She took every death personally. And every one saved was a personal celebration.**

**"Have you figured out where the virus came from," Dan asked.**

**Liz shook her head. **

**"We think I brought it back from Earth," Michael said for her. "We just don't know how."**

**"Well, what did you do while you were there," Dan asked. "Have you retraced all your steps?" **

**"A thousand times, Dan… a thousand times. I just can't come up with anything."**

**"Nothing seemed strange or out of place?"**

**"Everything seemed strange! But I still don't know where the virus could have come from. I'd say Zwolinski could have cooked it up, but he never had the chance that I know of. I mean, he never did anything that could have given it to me, you know."**

**"Where did you go while you were there?"**

**Roswell… I saw the CrashDown and myself as a kid… and Hank. Hank couldn't have made a hybrid virus. He doesn't even know what viruses look like. He thinks they're little sharks swimming around in our blood."**

**Diane giggled and shook her head.**

**"I went to Nashville to see Alex. I went to Boston to see Liz once. Then there was the rock pit… the quarry."**

**"Quarry?"**

**"Outside of Roswell. The shape-shifters had their ship in it. It was buried under the rubble at the bottom. They had an elaborate sort of electronic alarm system… neuronic or something… that warned them when anything was around the quarry and allowed them to see it from wherever they were. You think they could have given it to me?"**

**"Could be. Would they have had something to gain by destroying Antar… killing everybody on the planet?"**

**Michael thought about this for a few moments. "I don't know what they would gain by it. They were loyal to Kivar, and Kivar wanted to take over Antar. I can't see what he would have to gain by having no one to be the king of. Besides, he would have been affected by the virus, too."**

**"And the shape-shifters?"**

**"I don't know. They're not native to Antar. But they do have a similar nervous system… with a few important modifications that allow them to shape-shift."**

**"Did you go anywhere else?"**

**"Yeah. I was on a yacht off the east coast of the Bahamas."**

**"The Bermuda Triangle," Dan said.**

**"Yeah, so?"**

**"Nothing." Dan shook his head. "I just thought it was curious… or interesting. There's nothing to those legends, so it really doesn't matter."**

**"Didn't a lot of ships and planes and stuff disappear in the Bermuda Triangle," Kyle asked.**

**Dan nodded. "Yeah, a whole squadron of military planes, Avengers I think, disappeared there in the forties. Ships and boats have disappeared there, too. But if you consider the amount of traffic that area has… the sheer number of boats and planes that fly or move through that area every single day… I mean, the triangle reaches from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then over to Bermuda… it's not unusual that that area would seem to be plagued with a lot of accidents… or unexplained occurrences for that matter. I never heard of any aliens getting any unusual viruses there, though."**

**"Yeah." Michael nodded. "I don't think that has anything to do with it. The yacht was leased by Nicholas… and he was working for Kivar, so exterminating everyone on Antar wouldn't be in the interest of either one."**

**"Who would have an interest in killing everyone on Antar, Michael," Diane asked.**

**Michael thought about it and shook his head. "No one. That's the problem. Zwolinski might have done it in the past… or in another timeline, but he actually helped me to track down Jim's killers in this timeline. He wanted the shape-shifters and Kivar's guys, not me. We worked together once he understood that we were on the same side."**

**"A snake is always a snake," Diane said. "I'm not saying he did it, but I wouldn't be too quick to rule him out. He had the motive and the desire… in the past at least. He had the ability… Didn't he have a lab and people working with him? And he had access to you." **

**Kathleen nodded. "She's right, Michael. A snake is always a snake, and Zwolinski is always Zwolinski, even when he's not rattling his tail to warn you."**

**"I know," Michael said. "I would suspect him in a heartbeat, too, but… how? He was very nice to me once we started working together. He never did anything that I know of that could have given me this virus. I watched my back around him. I was never asleep… and I was never unconscious around him. There's just no way…"**

**"Did you bring anything back that he gave you?"**

**"No. I didn't bring anything back at all… just me… and the clothes I was wearing."**

**"Have you had the clothes checked," Jim asked.**

**"No. This is the same shirt I was wearing there. It's been washed since then, of course. It got torn while we were capturing the shape-shifters, and Zwolinski paid to have it sewn up. He also had that little silver monogram sewn on the pocket for me when they fixed the shirt."**

**"Zwolinski?" Diane and Dan both asked at once.**

**"Yeah. But he didn't do the repairs. A seamstress at a local shop did it. Zwolinski just put it on his account. I didn't know about the monogram till I got the shirt back. Zwolinski said it was the least he could do for the help I gave him, and he was getting the shirt repaired anyway, so he just had them do it at the same time. It's nothing… just a few threads. You think that…?"**

**"Let me see it," Dan said, moving over to study it closely.**

**"The thread in the monogram is shiny. It sort of sparkles," Diane said.**

**"Yeah. It does look nice," Michael said.**

**"Yeah," Dan agreed. "It does."**

**Michael unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. Then he stared at the monogram for several minutes. He turned the shirt inside out and looked at the thread inside the seam. It was the same shiny, sparkly, metallic-looking thread. He ran his fingers over it and looked at his fingers. A few very tiny silvery sparkles remained on his fingers.**

**"What's that," Diane asked.**

**"I don't know," Michael said, shaking his head solemnly. "But I'm going to find out." Michael stood up and looked at Maria. "You can hang out here if you want to till I get back," he said. Then he left the ranch house. Maria knew where he was going. And she knew he'd be back with an answer from Varec.**

**                                       ************

**Dressed in full contamination gear, Varec removed the small vial from the chemical bath he had placed it in and looked at the silvery thread in it. Then he removed the silvery thread with a small forceps and placed it on a glass slab, which he placed on the plate of his electron-neuron binary scanning microscope. He turned on the monitor on the wall, and both Michael and Varec watched as the screen came alive… almost literally. The silvery thread, when enlarged to a factor of 200,000X, seemed to wriggle and crawl with tiny worm-like organisms. It was all Michael needed to see.**

**"He did it to me, didn't he, Varec? That son of a bitch poisoned me… tried to exterminate our whole planet!"**

**"Well, it's a virus, not a poison, Michael, but in a way, you're right. This particular virus has an unusual profile. It's part virus, part chemical."**

**"Don't we all have chemicals in our bodies," Michael asked. "Aren't we all part chemical?"**

**Varec nodded. "We are. But this is unique. It's something I've never seen before, Michael. The reason Antarians can't catch viruses is because we have… I guess you could say 'mutated' the DNA of Antarians in such a way that no known virus or bacteria can penetrate our cells or bodies without being immediately destroyed. What Zwolinski has done is create a hybrid virus-chemical… a living chemical! It's ingenious actually."**

**"You can spare the praise, Varec. I'm going to kill the son of a bitch, so nobody's going to be giving him any achievement awards."**

**"I wasn't praising him, Michael. He's obviously very evil. I was just amazed by his ingenuity. The chemical that this virus is bound with attacks Antarian cells, rendering them vulnerable to attack by viruses and possibly bacteria. But this particular little creature is also a virus, so it blasts the door open then goes in and… well, you know."**

**"Yeah… I do," Michael said. "Can you use this information to help come up with a better cure or antidote?"**

**"I think so. It's the best key we've had to what this thing is. We can use it, sure."**

**"Keep the shirt, Varec. I don't want it back."**

**Michael left Varec's lab and drove back toward Jim and Kathleen's. His jaw was set like a vise; his eyes were like steel. He knew what he was going to do.**

**tbc**


	44. Rath43

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Ax**

**Chapter 43**

**XLIII **

**"Michael, I don't know if this is a good idea," Liz said, her voice echoing the seriousness of her concern. "He's evil… and I admit he deserves to die, but… murder?"**

**"It's not murder, Liz. It's self-defense. It's more than justifiable… It's necessary."**

**"I don't like it, Michael. Can't we just leave him there in his time… on his world? We don't have to ever go back."**

**"We can't live that way, Liz. He's a danger. He'll always be a danger. As long as he's alive, we'll never be safe… even on our own planet. Would you ever have thought that he could have almost exterminated our whole planet? And from a different timeline at that… one that technically may not even exist now?"**

**Liz shook her head.**

**"Well he did, Liz. And I have to defend the planet. I'm the king's defender… and the defender of the kingdom."**

**"Michael, that's Rath talking."**

**Michael shook his head. "It's me talking, Liz. I know who I am now. I'm okay with Rath. He's not evil… like Zwolinski. I don't mind that part of my life now. I'm whole… for the first time in my life."**

**"But you're still Michael."**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah. I'm still Michael. I just know who Michael is now… and I've reconciled with it. I like it, Liz. I like being me and not apologizing for it."**

**Liz stammered for something to say.**

**"Michael… I've known the sensitive side of you… the boy who painted beautiful portraits and pictures, the man who loves his family… who loves Maria… more than his own life. I've known the caring Michael… when you saved the lives of all those children… even the ones who weren't Antarian… even the ones who were just little… puffs of gas or… or… stringy, vine-like things… or Dragons, for God's sake! You risked your own life for Dragon children, and the Dragons were our sworn enemies then. And I've known the defender Michael, the man who would place his own life in danger or give his own life to defend his planet, his people. But this… I've never seen this side of you."**

**"Then look at it," Michael said, turning to face Liz, his eyes burning with an intenseness she had never seen before. "Look well at the fourth face, Liz… the face of wrath."**

**Liz's eyes met Michael's… and she stepped back reflexively. The sheer intenseness of his gaze scared her. For the first time since Liz could remember, no words seemed to come to her. She just stood there, her mouth open, a silent gasp caught in her throat.**

**"Michael," Liz managed to say at last, finding her voice again, "What if that timeline isn't even there now?"**

**"It is, Liz. You said yourself that anyone who chose not to return here would live out their normal lives there. Remember?"**

**Liz nodded. "But everyone chose to return."**

**"Everyone from our group. Not everyone, Liz." **

"The Zwolinski who did this is in that timeline, Michael. In our timeline, as far as I know, Zwolinski is still green with flaming red eyes and hair and being held in a high security area somewhere near Roswell… in area 51 or somewhere."

**"And still just as dangerous, Liz. He's proven it in every timeline we've ever met him in."**

**Liz didn't have an answer for that. She knew that Zwolinski was a danger. He had shown it time and again… often in the most unexpected ways. In the original timeline, he had dissected Liz in the white room. She had not forgotten this, either.**

**"Are you going to kill him in every timeline, Michael? There are no guarantees in life, you know."**

**Michael was silent for a moment as he thought about this. "I don't know, Liz. I'm just concerned with the one who did this to us right now. He's my only concern… not the green one. And I vaporized the one that cut you up. Remember? This one has to go, too."**

**Michael called for the portal then stepped through. Liz turned to Max, who had stood quietly by without saying a word until now.**

**"Max, he's using my portal…"**

**"You gave him permission, Liz, when he went to look for himself, remember? You never rescinded that permission."**

**"Well, I rescind it now!"**

**Max shook his head. "Don't do that, Liz. It would strand him on Earth. You know what would happen to him. Do you want that?"**

**Liz shook her head.  "Is this what we've been reduced to, Max? Huh? Murderers! Do we have to be like him… you know, like Zwolinski? Aren't we better than that?"**

**"I don't know, Liz. Can you guarantee the safety of this planet… or bring back 30,283 dead Antarians… Antarians who have died from Zwolinski's virus so far… or the ones who haven't yet but will?"**

**"That's not fair, Max? There are no guarantees in life. Do we have to have guarantees? Every one of those people we lost left a hole in my soul! We just have to live the best we can."**

**"I think that's what Michael's doing, Liz. I think we should trust him."**

**Liz shook her head sadly. She had run out of anything to say.**

**                                         ************

**In a small office near Roswell, a smiling Zwolinski leaned back in his chair and relit a partially-smoked cigar.**

**"I don't know why I gave these up," he said to the colonel sitting in front of his desk. "Oh yeah… the doctors. Well, I feel like celebrating."**

**"You think the virus worked," the colonel asked.**

**"I'm sure of it, Kilpatrick. By now, we've cleaned out the whole nest. That's the way to get rid of rats. Kill 'em at the nest."**

**"I wish we could have been there to see their faces, Zwolinski."**

**Zwolinski laughed, but it was not a laugh that he would get to enjoy. A quick shimmer of light appeared behind the colonel, and suddenly, Michael stepped through and grabbed the colonel by the neck before he could turn around. **

**"You want to see my face? Then I'll show it to you," Michael said, gazing directly into the colonel's eyes as he turned the colonel's head toward his own face. Zwolinski saw it, too, the look in Michael's eyes, and he swallowed what was left of his cigar. **

**Choking and sputtering, Zwolinski dove for his gun, lying on a nearby table. Michael was quicker. A blast of power from his palm incinerated the gun and half of the table… and almost Zwolinski's hand with it, if Zwolinski had been a little quicker getting there.**

**Michael threw the colonel across the room, knocking him unconscious.**

**"What are you going to do," Zwolinski sputtered. **

**"I'm going to end this," Michael said. "I'm going to protect my planet… from you."**

**"What… what happened?"**

**"You know what happened."**

**Michael was over the desk and had Zwolinski in a headlock before Zwolinski could move.**

**"How many died? How many?" Zwolinski managed to sputter.**

**"You'd like to know, wouldn't you Zwolinski? Would it make you happy to know just how many people died? My people?"**

**"Aliens, Michael. Alien scum. Not people."**

**"Like me? Alien scum?"**

**"Like you."**

**"You're a sick man, Zwolinski."**

**"Kill me, Michael. It's what you came for, isn't it? Kill me! I don't care now! I've struck. You can't take that back. I've won. It's done. My legacy is complete."**

**"You failed, Zwolinski. Everyone didn't die. We have a cure."**

**"But a lot of you died, didn't they? Never mind, you don't have to tell me. Your face told me everything I need to know."**

**For a moment… a very long moment… Michael stood there with Zwolinski's head under his arm, thinking. Then he threw Zwolinski against the wall. Zwolinski was baffled. He was sure that Michael had come to kill him, and he had prepared himself for it. **

**"You're right, Zwolinski. Killing you won't change anything."**

**Zwolinski started to smile.**

**"I have to stop this at the source," Michael said. "Portal! Take me to the year 1940."**

**Zwolinski looked momentarily puzzled… "1940? I was in second grade…" Then it dawned on him… "He's going to kill me when I was a child!" Zwolinski turned suddenly pale. "Everything I've done… all my accomplishments… My legacy! will never happen! I'll never exist!"**

**                                      ************

**As the last bell rang, Dumas collected up his second grade books quickly. He had to walk about a mile and a half to get home. It was a bit chilly outside being February. But for February, it was actually not so bad. Dumas was in a hurry to get home. His older brother had promised to take him to the five and dime to spend the dollar his father had given him the day before for getting good grades the previous quarter. Jonathan was sixteen. He had just learned to drive recently and enjoyed shuttling Dumas –or anybody else- around in the family's Packard. **

**Normally, Dumas would stray from the route home to walk by the lake. It was a big lake, and Dumas always wondered what was on the other side. It was a mystery… the other side of the lake… It might as well have been the other side of the world. But today Dumas headed straight home. There were things that interested him even more than the mystery of the other side of the lake. Jonathan was taking him to the five and dime. Dumas loved the five and dime… especially the little rubber tractors. They had bins and bins of them in different sizes, nickel-sized and dime-sized. And they had lots of other kinds of toys… and candy… so much candy! Dumas could get a lot of candy with a dollar. He'd get some for Jonathan, too.**

**Dumas walked up the street to his yard and opened the little white swinging gate. He put his books on the ground and closed the gate back then picked the books back up and walked briskly toward the house. As he got closer, he heard something going on inside. It wasn't the normal sounds he would hear… it was more chaotic… like people running… things being overturned or thrown. Dumas dropped his books and ran up onto the porch. As quickly as he could, he let himself in.**

**"Mom? Are you here? Sally? Francis? Johnny?" **

**Dumas ran to Jonathan's room. No one was there. He ran to his sister's room.**

**"Sally? Are you in here?"**

**Dumas cracked the door carefully and peeked inside. Then he opened the door. The bed had been scorched… and there was a silver handprint on the torn pillow. The walls showed signs of scorching, too. Dumas ran to the living room. He stopped suddenly, dropping his books, as a man stepped into the doorway in front of him. The man's eyes glowed with intenseness, and he looked straight at Dumas. Dumas swallowed. **

**"Who… who are you?"**

**The figure in the door didn't answer. It lifted one hand, and the palm began to glow. Michael pulled his hand back and paused… for a moment… then he threw the ball of fire. Dumas saw it coming, but only for a split second. He couldn't have avoided it. He just stood there, his mouth open. The ball of fire shushed past Dumas' face. He felt the heat and an indescribable magnetic feeling as the ball whizzed past him and struck the wall. **

**Dumas turned to look where the ball of energy had hit the wall, and as he looked, his shadow on the wall began to quiver… then it slid slowly down the wall and came to rest flat on the floor.**

**"Whoa! That's never happened before!" **

**Dumas turned around quickly to face the new voice. It was his 16-year-old brother, Johnny, and he was standing beside the mysterious man.**

**"Space guy here killed your shadow, Dummy! That's… weird… but it's boss, man! Really boss!"**

**Dumas' sisters and mother stepped out of the closet, and his mother scooped him up in her arms.**

**"Who are you," Dumas asked again.**

**Michael shook his head. "Nobody really. Just someone from another planet who came to save you and catch some bad guys."**

**Dumas looked at the flat shadow lying on the floor. It was starting to disintegrate and disappear.**

**"What was that? It was an alien wasn't it? You're like an alien space ranger or something… like Buck Rogers!"**

**"Something like that," Michael said.**

**"Wow! A space ranger! A real space ranger! Here! Did you see it, Johnny?"**

**"Yeah, pipsqueak! I saw it! It was totally awesome! Totally boss!"**

**"A real space ranger! Did you see it, Mom? Did you see it, Sally? Francis?"**

**The girls nodded. "We saw it, Dum," Francis said. **

**"You should have been here a little earlier," Johnny said. "It was like Buck Rogers in here, Dummy! These shadow people were trying to kill us, and then Space Ranger here showed up and fried 'em all with his power balls! It was amazing! Really boss!"**

**"Do you have a name, Space Ranger," Dumas asked.**

**"It's Michael," Michael replied. "Just Michael."**

**"Thanks, Michael," Mrs. Zwolinski said. "I don't know how you knew. You showed up right when we needed you."**

**"Where's your husband," Michael asked.**

**Mrs. Zwolinski looked at the floor and bit her lip. "You're not going to hurt him… or take him back?"**

**"Take him…? What? No, I'm not going to hurt him… or take him anywhere."**

**"George! Come out," Mrs. Zwolinski said. "It's alright. He's one of the good ones. He's not here to take you back."**

**The door to the pantry opened, and a man stepped out. He had on a gray, baggy suit coat and gray, baggy suit pants, a tie, and a fedora hat. In the face, he looked a lot like Dumas.**

**"You aren't here to take me back? Why are you here then?"**

**"To save you… to save all of you… and hopefully, to change history."**

**Mister Zwolinski looked puzzled. "I guess I should say, 'thank you.'" He shook Michael's hand, and as he did, Michael got an unexpected flash. He saw a man… an alien… running from shape-shifters. He saw the fleeing alien turn himself into a squirrel and scurry up a tree, as the ones chasing him continued to run in the direction he had gone. He saw the alien with Mrs. Zwolinski… Then it dawned on Michael what it was that the shape-shifters wanted with Dumas' family. They wanted one of their own… one who had deserted their ranks… a runaway. That was a capital offense in some shape-shifter communities. It was all for one and one for all… or else… and the 'or else' wasn't pleasant.**

**"Are there more," Michael asked quietly.**

**"I don't think so," Zwolinski said. "These were the only ones that I know of. They were… my pod. We had a falling out… a disagreement over the value of human life."**

**"You tried to convince them that humans were more than they thought." **

**"Yeah. I met Marjorie." George looked at his wife. "They tried to bring me back. When I wanted to stay, they decided to kill her… and my family… and me if necessary. 'No' is not an answer they understand or accept."**

**"Well, I gave them an answer they can understand," Michael said. "You can live your life, Mr. Zwolinski. Raise your family… your kids. Take care of them." Michael looked at Dumas across the room with the rest of his family. He was still grinning from ear to ear. "Do they know? Have they… can they…?"**

**"Shape-shift? No. Not that I know of. They don't know. I'm just George Zwolinski, their dad, to them. We're just an all-American family. I'd like to keep it that way. They seem to have inherited more of their mother than of me, and I'm glad it happened like that. It will be easier for them."**

**"That's true," Michael agreed. "I can vouch for that."**

**"Personal experience?"**

**Michael nodded. "Go on, Mr. Zwolinski. Go to your family. Raise them right… to appreciate and value life… whatever planet it comes from. They need you."**

**Zwolinski smiled and shook Michael's hand again. Clearly, he had adapted thoroughly to the all-American way of life. Michael never would have known what he was if he hadn't touched him and got the flash that he did.**

**"Portal," Michael called. The portal appeared. Dumas ran up to Michael. "Can I shake your hand, too, Mister Space Ranger, Michael, sir?" Michael nodded, and Dumas shook his hand, smiling broadly.**

**"Thanks, Mister," Dumas said.**

**"Your welcome," Michael whispered, then he disappeared into the portal.**

**                                    ************

**Michael stepped back into the front room of Jim Valenti's ranch house to a waiting Liz and Max. Liz looked at him. There was no smile on her face.**

**"So did you take care of the problem?"**

**Michael nodded. Liz swallowed and turned away for a moment.**

**"It won't matter, Michael. Killing him wasn't the answer… not like that… in cold blood. It won't change anything. It just makes you a… a…" Liz couldn't say it.**

**"I know," Michael said. "I realized that killing him there in his office wasn't going to solve anything."**

**Liz turned to look at him. "What did you do?"**

**"If I was going to change anything, I had to intervene before he grew up and became what he was… when he was still seven years old…"**

**Liz looked at Michael and went white. When she could speak again, she stammered, "You killed a child?" Tears began to roll down her face.**

**"No, Liz. I didn't kill him. I killed the shape-shifters. His family lived. Now maybe he'll grow up to be a happy, well-adjusted person. I don't know, of course. We can only hope. Someone told me there are no guarantees in life."**

**Michael was prepared for Liz's disappointment in him. What he was not prepared for was for her to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him then start crying. Michael looked at Max, and Max shrugged. Michael patted Liz cautiously on the back, not knowing how to handle this turn of events.**

**Max walked across the room to where Michael stood and looked him in the face… then he smiled. "I think you're not the only person who learned who you are, Michael. These are trying times. We're all being tested. And we're all finding out who we are… in more ways than we realize."**

**tbc**


	45. Rath44

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Looking For Normal… and Something Else**

**Chapter 44**

**XLIV **

**It had been two weeks since Michael returned from taking care of "the Zwolinski problem." Liz was getting ready for bed and watching out her window as the children, Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx played outside chasing jaras droosh, or flash bugs, in the dark. During the warm seasons, the flash bugs would often light up the night with their twinkling. Jaras droosh –which is the correct Antarian name for the flash bugs- are much larger than fireflies, or lightning bugs, on Earth. They're closer to the size of large beetles, slightly larger than "June bugs." The light of a jaras droo can be seen for quite a few miles.**

**"One… two… three… four…" Liz counted softly as she stared out the window. **

**"You ready for bed, Liz," Max asked.**

**"Mmmm… just about… I'm letting the children play a while first. They love to catch the flash bugs when they're flying like they are tonight."**

**"You coming soon, though?"**

**"Huh? Oh… Yeah… I'll bring the kids inside in a few more minutes."**

**Max nodded and pulled the covers over himself.**

**"One… two… three… four…"**

**Max sat up and looked at Liz with a perplexed look. "Honey, what are you doing?"**

**"Doing? What do you mean?"**

**"What's this _'one, two, three, four'_ you keep saying?"**

**"Did I?"**

**"Only every time you look out the window."**

**Liz shook her head. "It's nothing, Max. I was… just counting flash bugs I guess."**

**"Ah…" Max rested his head back on his pillow.**

**"How many flash bugs are out there, Liz?"**

**"Hundreds… maybe thousands… maybe more."**

**"That's what I thought."**

**"One… two… three… four…" Liz counted quietly to herself. Then she noticed Max looking at her again.**

**"I'll get the kids and bring them in, Max. They've been chasing the jaras droosh long enough."**

**Max smiled. "I'll be waiting."**

**                                       ************

**"Mom, do we have to come in already? Look at all the jaras droosh we've caught! Alyyx is making lanterns for all of us."**

**"That's nice, Maya, but it's late. Your Dad and I want to get some sleep. And you need some sleep, too."**

**"Aw, Mom…"**

**"Come on in… all of you."**

**Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx streamed into the house one by one. Liz watched as each one came in from outside… _"One… two… three… four…"_**

"Mom, can we keep the jaras droosh in our rooms tonight?" 

**"Huh? Oh… sure, yeah, I guess so, Andya."**

**"Can we let them fly around in our rooms and give us night lights?"**

**"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Leese."**

**"Aw, Mom, pleeease!"**

**Liz looked at JoLeesa and shook her head slightly. "Alright… but you guys had better catch every one of them in the morning and put them back in… whatever you're keeping them in. I don't want to go in there and be surrounded by a swarm of flash bugs in the morning."**

**"We will, Mom! Promise," Alyyx said.**

**"Mom?"**

**"Yes, Maya?"**

**"We're all in. Are you going to close the door?"**

**"Oh! Yeah!" Liz took one last look outside and sighed. Then she closed the door.**

**"What are you looking for, Mom," Maya asked.**

**"Nothing. I was just taking another look at all the pretty flash bugs flying in the sky tonight."**

**Maya smiled.**

**"Off to bed now! All of you!"**

**Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx ran up the stairs and disappeared down the hall. Liz followed them and tucked each one in in turn, instructing them that they could release the jaras droosh after she had left and the door was closed. Then Liz went back to her room and climbed into bed with Max.**

**"I'm sorry. That place is saved," Max said without rolling over. "You'll have to make a reservation."**

**Liz turned his face over to hers with her hand and pressed her lips to his. Max put his arms around her and pulled her close.**

**"Now who were you saving that place for, Max?"**

**"I don't know, but you can stay," Max said with a smile. "Do you have a reservation?"**

**Liz slipped off her blouse and pants and cuddled up against Max.**

**"Yeah… I guess you do…"**

**Liz turned the lights out.**

**"Will this get me in," she asked softly.**

**"Mmmm… Oh, yeah! That's the reservation I had in mind."**

**                                        ************

**As the sun came up, Max awoke refreshed and happy. It was hard for Max to let anything distract his mind from the problems of the kingdom. He could be rather single-minded. Unfortunately, this led him to take all the problems of the kingdom upon himself, which sometimes made for a somewhat unhappy and overburdened king. Fortunately, he had Liz. When it came to taking Max's mind off his troubles, she could sometimes be a genius. This morning he awoke refreshed and happy… for the first time in a long time. **

**It appeared that Liz was already up, so Max got up, grabbed a shower and shave, and went to look for Liz. He found her in Alyyx's room… on her knees… looking for something under the bed.**

**"What you lookin' for, Hon?"**

**Liz pulled another flash bug out from under Alyyx's bed and put it in Max's hand.**

**"Oh."**

**"Looks like they missed a few," Liz said, finding another one under his pillow. She opened the window and tossed it out. Max walked over to the window and tossed the one he was holding out, too.**

**"What did you think I was looking for, Max?"**

**"I don't know. You just seem to be always searching for something lately, Liz. I don't know what it is. And last night you kept counting to four… I know you can count higher than that, and there were probably thousands of jaras droosh flying around out there last night. I'm concerned, Liz. That's all. I care about you."**

**Liz smiled. "I'm touched, Max. Really. But I'm alright. You needn't worry about me. It's just your imagination." Liz kissed him on the cheek.**

**"Is it?"**

**"Yes."**

**Liz walked over to Alyyx's dresser and scooped up four flash bugs she had collected and placed in a cup on the dresser. She carried the bugs to the window and started to throw them out but stopped.**

**"You gonna throw 'em out or keep 'em," Max asked with a smile.**

**"There were five," Liz said.**

**Max looked at the bugs and the cup on the dresser. "Well, one must have flown away or crawled off, Liz. There are only four now. Maybe the fifth one was the one you threw out."**

**Liz was silent for several moments. Max noticed that a look like fear came over her for a moment. Then she swallowed and regained her composure.**

**"Yeah… yeah, you're right, Max. It's just flash bugs, right? It doesn't matter if we lost one."**

**"I'm sure Alyyx will find it, Liz."**

**Liz nodded. Max kissed her and wrapped his arms around her. Liz closed her eyes. Then she opened them and looked into Max's eyes, and their lips drew slowly closer… until they touched, this time for longer… much longer.**

**"Ewwww! Gross! I'm gonna need years of emotional counseling to get over what I've seen," Alyyx said, walking into his room unexpectedly.**

**Max smiled but didn't hurry to finish his kiss. When he finally did finish, he turned to Alyyx and said, "I seem to remember your Uncle Michael telling me about seeing you and somebody at the edge of the woods. You didn't seem too worried about being psychiatrically damaged then, Alyyx. Hmmm?"**

**Alyyx was silent for a few moments. "Well… that was Jayyd. That's different. She's pretty… and young. You guys are old!"**

**"Not too old to whup you," Max said, grabbing Alyyx and flipping him onto his bed as Alyyx giggled. "I happen to think your mama's the prettiest girl around." **

**"And young, too," Liz added with a smile.**

**"Yeah! That's right! And young, too," Max said. Then he started to tickle Alyyx.**

**"Alright! Alright! I surrender," Alyyx said, laughing hysterically.**

**"If we're so old, maybe we better let you get a job and take care of us, Alyyx." **

**"I didn't mean you were that old, Dad! Just too old to… you know… be kissing and stuff like that."**

**Max started tickling Alyyx again. **

**"Wait'll you get a little older, Alyyx. You'll feel differently."**

**"Alright! Alright," Alyyx giggled. I give up. You and Mommy can kiss."**

**"That's more like it."**

**"Just don't blame me when the psychiatrist says you caused it…"**

**Max jumped toward Alyyx, and Alyyx ran out of the room as fast as his seven-year-old legs would carry him, with Max right behind him. Liz shook her head and smiled… **

**"Children!"**

**tbc**


	46. Rath45

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Three Little Pawgors**

**Chapter 45**

**XLV **

**Jim Valenti watched with Kathleen from the porch of their ranch house as Danyy played in the yard with his friend the pawgor. Ten months before, the pawgor had found a mate and increased the pawgor population by three, so Danyy now had not one, but five pawgors to play with. Mama pawgor usually preferred to watch as her three cubs and her mate -Danyy's original friend- played "chase-and-catch," "snatch-the-ball," "hide and seek," "pounce and leap," and other "pawgor games" with Danyy; but she was still young, too, and occasionally she would succumb to temptation and join in the fun. **

**Kathleen still worried about Danyy, especially when he would be rolling in the grass with the pawgor, wrestling it as though he had a chance in the world of winning such a mismatch. Fortunately, although the adult pawgors were half again as large as a full-grown Siberian tiger or adult male lion, they seemed to know just how much pressure they could put on Danyy and not crush him or seriously injure him. Their antics looked savage and dangerous, but considering their abilities, they were actually being amazingly gentle, probably more so even than with their own cubs.**

**The cubs, however, were another matter. Though Danyy was able to communicate with all the pawgors and let them know when they were being too rough, the cubs had not yet developed a mastery of their powers and strength. Danyy had been scraped or lightly mauled a few times by the cubs' already foot-long front teeth or their retractable claws, which just seemed to automatically "unretract" during hard play. Most closely resembling prehistoric saber tooth tigers, full-grown pawgors have a pair of two-foot long teeth in the front of their mouths. Danyy was never seriously hurt, though, and could still count all his fingers, hands, and other appendages. Nevertheless, it gave Kathleen cause for concern, though she did have to admit that she enjoyed watching Danyy having so much fun.**

**Jim had long ago returned the young pawgor to the Nan-Torel, a sort of deep forest-jungle that was its natural habitat, but the young pawgor often left the Nan-Torel to return to the Valenti ranch to find Danyy. When it found a mate and had cubs, it brought them to the ranch, too. The pawgors came and went as they pleased, which was another unusual thing on Antar. No pawgors had ever been known to leave the deep Nan-Torel, and almost no Antarians had ever gone into the Nan-Torel… not willingly anyway… so their paths didn't often cross. The pawgor's prowess is legendary on Antar. It's just that since it lives in the dangerous Nan-Torel, nobody on Antar could remember ever actually having seen one… not until Jim Valenti came to Antar. **

**Antarians would often make weekend plans to drive by the Valenti estate just to get a glimpse of the pawgors. They certainly weren't going to venture into the Nan-Torel to see one. The deep Nan-Torel, where pawgors live, is considered so dangerous that anyone who enters and is not heard from for twenty-four hours can be legally declared dead. Jim found the young male pawgor trapped under a fallen tree with its dead mama during a hunting expedition in the Nan-Torel, a venture that Antarians considered just plain foolish. He saved the young pawgor and brought it home, never suspecting that the twelve-foot-high enclosure he kept it in was no hindrance at all. When the pawgor was ready to it simply jumped over the fence without even exerting itself. He also never suspected that his young son, Danyy, was talking to the pawgor every day… mind to mind… or that they understood each other. **

**Now Jim watched as his son, Danyy, played with not one but five pawgors in their yard. He shook his head and smiled at Kathleen.**

**"Never thought I'd see the day, Kath." **

**Kathleen watched as yet another car hovered slowly by on the off-the-path road that led by the ranch, trying to get a glimpse – and maybe a picture - of the pawgors.**

**"Looks like they never thought they'd see it, either," Kathleen said. "Antarians don't have a National Enquirer, but they don't seem to have any shortage of enquiring minds."**

**Jim nodded, and he and Kathleen both smiled.**

**"Maybe I should start something like the Discover channel on Antarian TV," Jim said.**

**"Maybe you should, Jim," Kathleen laughed, nodding. "I'll bet it would be a big hit! It's really amazing how little they actually know about their own fauna… especially considering that they're probably several thousand years ahead of Earth technologically and in almost every other way. You know, before Max met up with the jah-ee, Antarians still considered the jah-ee to be a myth… and no one had ever seen a pawgor! Maybe you should do it."**

**"Yeah," Jim said, nodding. "Maybe I will, Kath. You know… maybe I will. That's something Danyy and I could do together. Yeah! I'd like that!"**

**Jim turned to look as another car hovered up the country dirt road… but unlike the ones before, this one turned into the long driveway and drove up toward the ranch house.**

**"That's Max and Liz," Kathleen said, walking out to meet the car.**

**"Liz! Max! How are you?"**

**As the car's engines purred to a stop, the doors automatically slid back with part of the roof, and Liz stepped out of the vehicle, a bright blue Xac-Var IV, and accepted a hug and kiss on the cheek from Kathleen, which she returned.**

**"We wanted to see how you guys were doing up here," Liz said. "I don't know why, but it just seems like we haven't seen each other for a very long time."**

**"Yeah, it does, doesn't it," Kathleen agreed. "I was just thinking the same thing this morning. Funny, isn't it? We were all right here just a few days ago talking about… you know, the problems…" Kathleen was hesitant to open a dialog into the virus catastrophe that had befallen Antar. "But in spite of that, I can't shake the feeling that we were somewhere else for… a lifetime or something."**

**"You feel it, too?" Liz asked.**

**"Yeah. I'm remembering bits and pieces from when I was in the other timeline with Michael. The odd thing is, it feels more and more like I had a whole life there, not just a month or so after the Nogi-K'ya changed the timeline."**

**"Yeah," Liz agreed. "That's how I feel, too. And there's something from there that I know I should remember, Kathleen… only I can't seem to remember it, and it's killing me."**

**"Well, it'll come to you, Liz… maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a month… but it'll come to you sooner or later. I wouldn't worry about it."**

**"I guess not."**

**"I see the little pawgors are doing fine," Max said.**

**Kathleen nodded. "Yeah! They're a wild and frisky bunch."**

**"Don't you ever worry that they'll hurt Danyy," Liz asked… "I mean, accidentally or something?"**

**"I do," Kathleen said, nodding, "but Danyy seems to feel that he's safe, and they are very gentle with him. I know it doesn't look like it, but…"**

**"Is it normal for the pawgor to be chewing on Danyy's head like that," Max interrupted.**

**Kathleen turned around quickly. Danyy's head was inside the pawgor's mouth, and he was holding its two-foot-long front teeth in his hands like two bars of a jail cell. Kathleen started to yell or run to his defense, but at that moment, Danyy extricated his head from the pawgor's mouth.**

**"Look, Mom! Now my hair's all slicked down! I got Jung-Jo to lick it!"**

**Kathleen closed her eyes tightly for a moment and wrinkled her nose.**

**"You're taking a long bath when you get in the house, young man! No 'ifs,' 'ands,' or 'buts'!"**

**"Aw, Mom! I can comb my hair down now and it'll stay down!"**

**"I didn't know you worried about that," Jim said.**

**"I don't…" Danyy said, "but Mama likes it that way."**

**"Not licked down," Kathleen said, breaking out into laughter in spite of herself. Liz wondered if the laughter was amusement or relief. It was probably a bit of both.**

**"Max, what would you think about me starting a sort of Animal Channel or Discover-type channel on AntarVision," Jim asked. "You know, there aren't any zoos on Antar, and people here don't even know what some of their animals look like. They're just folk legends. Nobody ever saw a jah-ee before you befriended one…"**

**"Nobody who lived to tell about it," Max corrected. "Well… almost nobody, I guess. Somebody had to have seen one to start the legends."**

**"Yeah, well, that's what I mean, Max. And nobody ever saw a pawgor until I brought Jung-Jo back… Okay, I know, nobody who lived to tell about it."**

**Max smiled and nodded. He had seen a couple of pawgors when he was running from Kivar's soldiers and hiding out in the Nan-Torel, but the soldiers who chased him into the Nan-Torel had seen them, too… and only Max had returned from the Nan-Torel. Nobody could be really sure what ever happened to the group of soldiers who went in after Max. But one thing is certain… none of them ever came out.**

**"I think it's a good idea, Jim. Go for it if you want to do it! You're the most qualified person on Antar to do something like that."**

**"I think you're the only person on Antar qualified to do it," Liz laughed. **

**"You're probably the only one who would do it," Max said, nodding in agreement. **

**"Let's go inside," Kathleen said, pushing them toward the house. "I'll get you some coffee and jaht-roo cookies. I might have some left-over japo, too."**

**"Sounds good," Max said.**

**Inside the ranch house, Max and Liz sat down together on a typical oversized Antarian sofa, as Kathleen hurried to pour some coffee for everyone and bring out a tray of jaht-roo cookies and chilled japo-mevanish. Few Antarian families were ever without these basic treats, which could always be whipped out on a moment's notice for guests. For planned or more formal events, the japo-mevanish was served flaming. The flames gave the Antarian flan-like dessert a crispy but sweet coating, in a way like roasting a marshmallow over a fire. And jaht-roo cookies were made from a very light and wispy sugar dough, the same dough used to bake playing pieces for the Antarian game of Jaht-Roo, from whence they got their name. If you could take cotton candy, turn it into cookies, and make it slightly crisp, you would almost have jaht-roo cookies. Coffee, which had been unknown on Antar prior to Max's return, was quickly becoming a favorite with many Antarians, as was tea, though native herbs and beans were usually substituted, since real coffee beans and tea leaves were a special commodity on Antar.**

**"Kath," Liz said, turning to address Kathleen, "What exactly do you remember from Earth… I mean from the alternate timeline… not our real past in this timeline?"**

**"It's kind of fuzzy, Liz… it's just starting to come back to me… a little bit more each day. I remember working with Michael in some way to try to fix the timeline. I remember Jim being hurt… or maybe killed."**

**Liz looked shocked, but then she seemed to remember something about it herself. "Yeah, I think he was… I remember something about that being said."**

**"Well don't look at me, girls," Jim said. "I was dead. I can't help you."**

**"Maybe you were just hurt, Jim. I'm not sure you were dead."**

**"No, I was dead, Liz," Jim said with conviction.**

**"How do you know, Jim," Kathleen asked. "Do you remember anything?"**

**"I remember… something," Jim said.**

**"What," Liz asked.**

**"I remember… that is, I think I remember… a bird… with a broken wing. I picked it up to see if I could help it, and it…"**

**"It what," Kathleen prodded.**

**"It did something weird. It suddenly became very heavy and exploded or hit me with a flash of… energy or something… it blinded me."**

**"What happened then?"**

**"I don't know, Liz. That's all I remember. Things just went blank after that. I think I might've been killed and fell into the quarry."**

**"Yeah," Kathleen agreed. "You were in the quarry! And you were… dead. I remember that now!"**

**Kathleen swallowed as she said the word "dead." "I… I wanted to get us both back here to save you, Jim."**

**"Well, the next thing I remember is being back here, Kath, so you girls must've done something right. But I guess I can't be much help. You know, Michael could fill in a lot of these pieces. He came back with all his memories intact."**

**"Yeah, I know," Liz nodded. "But he doesn't know what it is that I can't remember. I already asked him."**

**"Did he tell you anything else?"**

**"Not much. He said I needed to remember it all myself. But I know that Kyle was a professional trainer or something and Alex was famous… I think he was a country-rock crossover singer. And I was head of the molecular biology department at Harvard and almost married some idiot professor who won a Nobel using work I had done. Michael stopped the wedding."**

**"Did Michael tell you all that," Jim asked.**

**"No. I remembered most of it. Michael just confirmed it and gave me a few details I wasn't clear on."**

**"Yeah? Head of molecular biology at Harvard, huh? Way to go, Liz… I think. What about me?" **

**"You were the sheriff, Jim… in Roswell." **

**"Dang, I was hoping I was a famous singer, too," Jim said, feigning disappointment. **

**"You can sing for me, Jim," Kathleen said. "I like your singing."**

**"My groupie," Jim said with a grin. "You know who else could fill in the gaps for us… those Nogi-K'ya guys. They were there wherever we were. They were in both timelines. They just moved around between the timelines like walking from one room to another."**

**"Yeah, I know," Liz nodded. "But they won't tell me. They know! I'm sure of it… but they refused to tell me what I need to know."**

**"Not very friendly of them," Jim said.**

**"It's not that… It's just that they have these strict laws about changing time and all, and they're afraid that telling me will cause some kind of time disruption or something."**

**"They worry too much," Jim said, shaking his head with a sigh. "It's a wonder they ever get anything done at all. They spend their whole lives 'studying possible ramifications.' They don't have time to do anything that might cause ramifications!"**

**Liz and Kathleen both laughed, and Max smiled.**

**"What about you, Max," Jim asked. "What were you in the alternate timeline?"**

**Max shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't remembered yet."**

**"Nothing?"**

**Max shook his head. It wasn't the whole and honest truth. Max did remember some of his life with Liz in the future time "bubble." He just hadn't been able to explain it to himself yet. It wasn't the alternate timeline that the others were in, and Max didn't have that key to the puzzle yet… especially since he also remembered going to California after graduation and never seeing Liz again. Until he understood it himself, he was hesitant to mention anything at all. The fact is, Max had also felt a deep feeling in his gut… an empty feeling… like something had been lost that was far more than just important… something that had to be remembered. But Max had kept it to himself. He didn't like to share his feelings openly with most people, and he wouldn't share feelings that he didn't understand with anyone.**

**"Strange that you don't remember anything at all, Max," Jim said. "Do you remember anything about Max in that timeline, Liz?" **

**Liz thought about it. "He was a student at Roswell High. We never really went together, I don't think… just spoke to each other in the hall a few times. I went to Boston after I graduated, and I don't know where Max went. I never saw him again." Liz thought about it for a moment. "No… no, that's not true. Max and I were together… at some time… But how can that be? I went to Boston and never saw him again." **

**Liz looked troubled and perplexed. Jim thought he saw a similar look cross Max's face.**

**"You sure you don't remember anything, Max?"**

**Max shook his head then added, "Just what Liz said. What she remembers. That's what I remember, too."**

**"Then you do remember something."**

**"I guess so… but it's not important."**

**"It might be, Max," Kathleen said. "Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's not important."**

**Max looked slightly embarrassed. "I guess you're right, Kathleen, but if I don't understand what I remember how can it help anyone?"**

**"Maybe if you and Liz both try, you might put the pieces together."**

**Max nodded. "You're probably right, Kathleen. I know I don't open up much. I usually do with Liz, but I just don't know how this could help. I don't even know if it's real… or just my imagination. I might just be misleading everyone… including myself."**

**"Or you might not be," Kathleen said. **

**Max nodded. "I remember going to California after graduation, like I said. I never saw Liz again after that… but… I also remember Liz coming to me… being with me."**

**"That's what I remember, too, Max," Liz said.**

**"We were together for a while…" Max added.**

**"A day? A few hours? A month?" **

**"I don't know, Kathleen," Max said. "Longer, I think."  
  
**

**"Longer than a month?"**

**Max nodded. Kathleen looked at Liz, and she nodded, too.**

**"Well, you both agree on something. There must be something to it."**

**"Why didn't Michael tell me this," Liz asked, looking at Max.**

**"I don't know, Liz. Maybe he didn't know it."**

**"How can he not know it, Max? He has all his memories!"**

**"Then maybe," Kathleen interjected, "you need to figure out how you two had time to be together for more than a month without Michael knowing it."**

**"Maybe," Liz replied hesitantly. "I do recall hiding something from him."**

**"Now we're getting somewhere," Kathleen said. "What was it that you hid from Michael?"**

**"I don't know. I don't remember."**

**"Okay then, let's try it a different way, Liz. Why didn't you want him to know whatever it was?"**

**Liz thought about it. "Max said it could hurt our chances of getting back to this timeline, I think."**

**"Do you remember that, Max," Kathleen asked, turning to Max. "Why would it hurt your chances?"**

**"I don't know. I think the Nogi-K'ya said it would… or might."**

**"Figures," Jim mumbled.**

**"So the Nogi-K'ya were there," Kathleen nodded. "Who else? Was anyone else there?"**

**"There were other people, sure. Max was in the palace here on Antar… but… it wasn't here… not in this timeline, I mean… It was somewhere else. Michael wasn't here. Kyle, Alex, Jim, and Tess weren't here either… and you weren't here."**

**"What you're saying, Liz," Jim interjected, "is that it was a totally different timeline. That's the only conclusion I can get from it. If it wasn't this timeline and it wasn't the timeline we were all in… the alternate one… it had to be a totally different timeline. How did you get there? Do you remember?"  
  
**

**"I think I used the sphere," Liz said.**

**"Why did you go to this other timeline," Kathleen asked.**

**"I was looking for Max… in the future, I think."**

**"Do you remember why?"**

**"No… well, maybe. I think I wanted to find out if Max was really there and we were really married."**

**"Okay. That's important," Kathleen said. "So you went to the future with the sphere. Only… it was the future of the timeline you were in, not this timeline… not the one you're married to Max in."**

**"Yeah… that must have been what happened," Liz said.**

**"And you found Max," Kathleen continued, "but the rest of us weren't there. So you spent time with Max there… over a month according to Max…"**

**"A lot more, I think…" Liz said hesitantly. "A year, maybe."**

**Kathleen's mouth dropped open. "A year? And Michael didn't know this?"**

**"No. I returned to the exact time I had left from, so there was no time lapse for him. It would have been like I left and came right back."**

**"A year!" Kathleen repeated, incredulous.**

**As Kathleen was thinking about this, Danyy came running into the house, his hair slicked down flat. **

**"Mom! Look what I got!" he held out his hand, and in his hand were seven coruns, three yaronins, and several kyrin, close to fifteen dollars if measured in Earth money. **

**"Where'd you get that, Danyy?"**

**"People have been paying me to let them take pictures of me with my head in Jung-Jo's mouth."**

**"Oh, for…" Kathleen huffed. "Jim, you've really got to do something about this."**

**Jim smiled and nodded. "D'you think they'd pay me if I stick my head in his mouth, Danyy?"**

**"Jim!"**

**"Alright… alright… just kidding, Kath. How about it, Danyy?"**

**Kathleen pursed her lips together tightly. At that moment, the three pawgor cubs followed Danyy into the house. Everybody laughed, and Liz added an "awwwww."**

**"They're adorable, Kathleen."**

**"Outside, they're adorable," Kathleen said. "Inside, they're something else. Danyy, can you take your friends back outside? Please?"**

**"Sure, Mom." Danyy turned and herded the young cubs back out into the yard.**

**"Kath," Liz said with some hesitation. "Why do I feel like there were four cubs?"**

**"I don't know, Liz. There were always only three."**

**"I'm getting that feeling again, Max… like one of them is missing." **

**Kathleen looked at Liz and suddenly became almost white. "Liz, you were with Max for how long? A year?"**

**"I think so." Suddenly, Liz realized where Kathleen was going, and all the color drained from her face, too. **

**"Omigod! Omigod! …Jeffy!"**

**tbc**


	47. Rath46

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Jungle Jim**

**Chapter 46**

**XLVI **

**Few Antarians were still on the street, and those who still were were not stopping to talk to anyone. A quick "hello" was all one could get from most of them as they rushed toward home or in the direction of the nearest public vision screen.**

**"Where's everyone going in such a hurry," a Xarian tourist asked a young Antarian man who rushed by him.**

**"Home… to watch the vision screen."**

**"What's so important?"**

**"Jungle Jim. Today's his first show. He's going into the Nan-Torel. It's going to be on vision screen live. He's going to get eaten! I don't want to miss it!"**

**"Jungle Jim?"**

**"Where are you from, man," the Antarian yelled back from half way down the street. "Everybody knows the pawgor guy. That's Jungle Jim." **

**The Xarian started to ask something else, but the Antarian was already gone. So he did what everyone else seemed to be doing. He headed in the direction of the nearest public vision screen to watch whatever it was that the Antarians were all in a titter over.**

**At the edge of the public square, set into the wall of one of the public buildings, the Xarian found a large public viewing screen, already surrounded by a good-size crowd. **

**"Who's this 'Jungle Jim,'" the Xarian asked a man standing near him.**

**"You're kidding, right?" The Antarian answered with a smile.**

**The Xarian shook his head. "No. I'm from Xarius. I don't know."**

**"Oh. Well, he's one of the people from Eluymer. You know, the planet they call Urth."**

**"Is he one of the ones who helped rescue the children from the Ghors?"**

**"Yeah. He's one of them." The Antarian looked at the Xarian and grinned. "He belongs to the woman who kicked Hosk the Ghor in the crotch…"**

**"Oh! That guy! Yeah, I know who he is now! Is that the guy that's going to go into the Nan-Torel?"**

**"Yeah. It's his first show. Everybody thinks it'll be his last show. He's going to get eaten."**

**"Shhh," a woman in front of them said. "It's starting."**

**Suddenly a hush came over the crowd, as Jim came onto the screen. He was standing at the edge of the Nan-Torel.**

**"Hello Antar! Today is a big day for me, and I hope it will be a memorable one for you, too."**

**"That's a pretty safe bet," the Antarian whispered to the Xarian.**

**"Today, we're going to go into the Nan-Torel, a place where Antarians have rarely ventured, to examine closely some of the unique and beautiful plant and animal life that is so abundant there. Follow me as we walk into this wondrous wild masterpiece of nature."**

**Jim walked toward the edge of the jungle. As he did, he seemed to get further and further away from the cameras. Then he turned around and motioned to his camera crew.**

**"You're falling behind, guys."**

**Somebody said something from behind the cameras.**

**"Oh, for the love o'… Now's not the time to tell me this. You didn't think I was going to lug all the cameras in there and film myself, did you? Somebody's got to go along with me."**

**The crowd in front of the square was starting to chuckle among themselves. They understood the camera crew all too well. Jim might be ready to get eaten by wild pawgors or God knows what else. He was a crazy alien. But the cameramen were Antarians… and they were not.**

**"Cut! Cut!" Jim yelled, making a slashing motion across his throat to tell the cameramen to turn off the cameras. But then he seemed to have second thoughts, and he walked over and looked into the cameras again.**

**"Folks, it looks like our trip into the infamous Nan-Torel is going to be delayed…" Under his breath, he added, "until I can find a camera crew with some backbones."**

**By now, the crowd in front of the vision screen was laughing hysterically. This was almost as good as seeing Jim get eaten. And that still might happen… if he could find someone else crazy enough to go into the Nan-Torel with him and film it.**

**"This is Jungle Jim the Pawgors' Friend saying good-bye till next week," Jim said to his audience. "I'll be here… right here… next week… ready to take you on a trip that you'll never forget. I hope you'll be here, too. Until then, stay safe, and take time out to look at the world around you." The camera's went off, and the news commentators came on to go over what they had just seen. It seemed that the news crews were just as amused as the general populace. Jim's first show had not gone as he had planned. But it was already the big hit of the season.**

**tbc**


	48. Rath47

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Unpleasant Realities**

**Chapter 47**

**XLVII **

**Maria walked into the suite that housed Zan's office and several other government offices and smiled at the receptionist.**

**"Is Max in his office?"**

**"He's busy at the moment, Maria. Can I let him know you're here?"**

**"No. Don't bother. I'll just go on down to his office."**

**"Maria, I don't…" **

**It was too late. Maria was already half way down the hall. Reaching the door to Max's office, she stopped to check herself over quickly then reached for the handprint on the door. It had long ago been encoded with her DNA. Like the rest of the group, Maria was authorized to enter at will. She started to press her hand to the handprint, but she heard someone talking inside… **

**"Zan, that's my last one! Have a heart!"**

**The voice sounded familiar. Maria stopped and pulled her hand back for a moment to listen.**

**"You'll get over it."**

**"I won't. This will do me in. If you do this, it's all over for me, Zan. I'm begging you."**

**That sounded like Rayylar, Tess' husband.**

**"That's the way it goes," Max's voice said.**

**"But you already have seven, Zan. Let me just have this one! Just one?"  
  
**

**"Can't do it, Rayylar. It would destroy my reputation."**

**"As a despot?"**

**"Call it what you will."**

**"What gives you the right to take them all?"**

**"See that crown? I'm a king."**

**Maria's mouth dropped several inches, and she inhaled with a gasp.**

**"Just give me one more chance, Zan. I can get out of this slump, I'm sure of it."**

**"Bring some more dough, Rayylar, and I'll think about it."**

**Maria gasped, then she placed her hand on the handprint quickly, and the door slid open. She was prepared to give Max a scathing earful. Maria didn't know why he was being cruel. It wasn't like Max… at least not like the Max she thought she knew. **

**Max and Rayylar looked up from the table… and both were smiling.**

**"Maria! Come on in," Max said.**

**Maria looked around, perplexed. Then she saw the strands of sugar dough all over the place… on the table… on the chairs… on Max and Rayylar.**

**"What's going on here," Maria asked, a totally baffled look on her face.**

**"What do you mean," Max asked. "Oh, you mean the sugar dough? Max reached up and pulled a strand out of his hair.**

**"We were playing Jaht-Roo," Rayylar answered. Zan took my last star ship. He has beat me seven games now. No one can beat him!"**

**"Bring some more sugar dough tomorrow," Max said, "and I'll give you another chance… to lose again."**

**"You're heartless, Zan," Rayylar said with a smile. "If you hadn't had that double deck star destroyer, the one you keep referring to as a 'king,' I could have beat you this time."**

**Max smiled. "But I did."**

**"One of these days, Zan! One of these days I'm going to beat you."**

**"Keep thinking that, Rayylar. They say delusions are good for some people."**

**Rayylar grinned and shook Max's hand in the Antarian fashion.**

**"See you tomorrow, Rayylar?"**

**"Count on it!"**

**Rayylar smiled and left the office.**

**"Maria! We can talk now. What brings you here?"**

**Maria stammered for a moment. I… I forgot. Jaht-Roo! You were playing Jaht-Roo?"**

**"Yeah…"**

**"I… I… Oh! Yeah! Liz said to tell you that Durj'ori is at the palace."**

**"Oh! Good," Max said, jumping up quickly and wiping more sugar dough off his clothes and out of his hair. "Liz and I asked him to come. It's about the baby."**

**"Jeffy," Maria nodded. "Liz told me. Do you think you'll find him, Max?"**

**Max shook his head sadly. "I don't know, Maria. We're going to exhaust every effort trying. We'll find him… or spend our lives trying. You can be sure of that."**

**"I know," Maria said softly. "I've talked to Liz. She's being really brave, but I can see in her eyes that she's hurting. I know I would be."**

**Max nodded and swallowed. "I want him back, too, Maria. It's been two weeks since Liz remembered Jeffy when we were at the Valenti's place, and we still don't know how we're going to find him. We spent eight days together doing nothing but looking for him and trying to think of some way to get him back. The sphere can't take us to him, because –according to the Drax-ta-Kiya- that timeline was just a bubble and doesn't exist at all anymore. We're talking to Durj'ori today… to see if the Nogi-K'ya can do anything."**

**"I hope they can help," Maria said. "I really want to see that little guy."**

**Max swallowed hard, and his eyes misted up. "So do I, Maria. I want to see him again, I mean."**

**"You remember him, Max?"**

**"Yeah. As soon as Liz said his name at Jim and Kath's place, I knew what had been missing. Let's go to the palace. You coming with me?"**

**Maria nodded, and the two of them left quickly together.**

**                                     ************

**Liz closed her eyes and wiped them with the backs of her fingers, then she looked straight at Durj'ori…**

**"You were able to pop in and out of that bubble whenever you wanted to, Durj'ori. All your people were. What's keeping you from doing it now?"**

**"The bubble isn't there now," Durj'ori said softly but firmly.**

**"I understand that. But your people can go backward and forward in time. The bubble was there at some point in time. You can go back to that point in time and find it."**

**Durj'ori shook his head. "You don't understand. The bubble has no past. It has no future. It was a 'bubble,' not a timeline. When it ceased to exist, it ceased to exist… forever. There is no past for it. I'm… sorry."**

**"You mean even the Nogi-K'ya can't find it?"**

**"We cannot find what does not exist."**

**"But it does," Liz said with absolute conviction. "It does exist. I don't know where. I don't know how. But I feel it, Durj'ori. I feel Jeffy!"**

**"Those are the instincts of a mother, Elizabeth… the feelings of a mother… maternal instincts. They are powerful… but sometimes they are only that."**

**"No, they're more," Liz said firmly. "Jeffy is there… somewhere. I don't know where somewhere is, but I know he's there. I will find him."**

**Durj-ori looked at Liz and then looked at Max. Then he looked down. The unpleasant reality was that there was nothing more to say. Neither he nor any other Nogi-K'ya could find Jeffy… even if they would be willing to, which was a big question mark as it was. Usually, before a Nogi-K'ya would intervene in time matters, their board had to do extensive studies, studies that took longer than humans –or Antarians– with their more limited life spans, could wait.**

**"I left that bubble," Liz said after a few moments of thought. "and I have memories of it. Max has memories of it, too… just like we all have memories of the alternate timeline. Is it possible to have memories of something that never existed, Durj'ori?"**

**"I can't answer that, Elizabeth," Durj'ori said. "If you have memories then the answer must be yes. I would not think that it was possible, though."**

**"Exactly," Liz said. "I'll find Jeffy, Durj'ori. With or without your help… I'll find my baby."**

**Durj'ori just nodded. "I wish you luck, Elizabeth… and Zan. I am truly sorry that we could not help you find the baby, but I have explained our reasons. We are powerless to help. We would at least study the possibilities for you if there was a hope of our finding your son… but…"**

**"Alright," Max said, waving Durj'ori off, acknowledging the finality of Durj'ori's decision. "We'll work on other angles, Liz. We haven't exhausted every possibility yet, Hon. Don't give up."**

**Liz smiled, and her eyes misted up. Then she gave Max a quick kiss on the lips.**

**                                    ************

**At the home of Michael and Maria Guerin, it was dinnertime, and the family sat together around the table. The main topic of discussion, unsurprisingly, was Liz and Max's lost baby.**

**"I don't know, Maria. Liz never mentioned her relationship with Max in the 'bubble' or whatever it was when we were together. She left and she came right back. I know how time works, but it's really hard for me to grasp that she could have spent a whole year there and got pregnant and had a baby… and I never even suspected anything when she came back. I know it's possible, of course. It just seems so… incredible."**

**"Well, obviously she did it, Michael. Both of them remember it."**

**"Yeah. I'm not doubting her memories or her word, Maria. It's just that it's… so incredible. I mean… she left me one moment… She returned like a minute later… and she had had a baby."**

**"Yeah." Maria smiled. "I'll have to ask her how she did that."**

**Michael smiled, too. "Well, we know that it really happened and Jeffy was real. Max and Liz both are sure of it, and I trust them, no matter how bizarre or incredible the story may seem."**

**"Besides," Maria added, "the Nogi-K'ya guy, Durj'ori, confirmed that the bubble did exist… once, and that they were there and Jeffy was there. It just doesn't exist now… anywhere in time apparently."**

**"Well, see, now that's just odd, too," Michael said, taking another bite of grelliats with Tabasco sauce. "If something once existed, for it to have no past now…"**

**"It's possible, Dad," Kryys said.**

**"How?"**

**"Well, it's kind of like you said. It was a displaced, capsulated, and isolated time event."**

**"I said that?" Michael asked, raising his eyebrows.**

**"Maybe not exactly, Dad, but yeah."**

**"So what does it mean," Michael asked.**

**"That it has no lasting past or future. When it's gone it's gone. Poof! No more."**

**"Then how is it that Liz can still feel Jeffy?"**

**Kryys shook his head. "I don't know."**

**"Is there something more to time than just time, Kryys?"**

**Kryys looked at his father. In some way, he actually understood what Michael was getting at.**

**"There is a place… beyond time," Kryys said. "It's beyond the reach of the Nogi-K'ya."**

**"What is it? Like… Heaven or something?"**

**"No… not exactly. Not that far. It's more like when you delete something on your computer. It's gone, but it's still compressed somewhere in the computer. Nothing is ever really gone."**

**"You mean their baby might be compressed somewhere?"**

**"No! Of course not! I guess that wasn't a good analogy, Dad. It's more like… everything is made up of atoms. Their baby was made up of atoms. Those atoms still exist. Atoms don't disappear or go away. But the atoms no longer have the forms that they once did. They're scattered now."**

**"Like when you do your swirly thing…?"**

**"Yeah… Only I control them and bring them all back together. Jeffy can't do that, so his atoms are no longer in the form that used to be Jeffy."**

**"So where are they? Spread all over the universe?"**

**"Maybe. But somewhere… beyond the realm of time… the essence or aura of Jeffy still may exist… and a pattern of who he was. It's not impossible to believe that that could be found and his atoms retrieved and reorganized."**

**"A pattern… you mean, like an actual blueprint?"**

**"Well, not like you're thinking of, Dad. More like a sort of resonance in time… a cosmic displacement of sorts where he once was. Like music that came from grooves on what you used to call a record on Earth, Dad. No one had to be there singing, because the grooves produced a resonance that precisely recreated the music. The universe and time are like the grooves of a record. Jeffy would have left an imprint on the universe, and that imprint would produce a resonance… the music. We all do. It might be possible to find it. If it can be found, it could be used to reassemble his original atoms… to reassemble Jeffy." **

**"Could the Nogi-K'ya do this?"**

**Kryys smiled. "Not a chance, Dad."**

**"Could the Drax-ta-Kiya do it?"**

**"Maybe. I don't know. It's more in his realm than in the time realm that the Nogi's deal with."**

**"Could you do it?" Michael asked.**

**Kryys was silent for several moments. "I think… maybe… I'm not sure."**

**Michael looked at Kryys, and Kryys smiled. "I'll be right back, Dad."**

**Kryys' body began to glow then dissolved into billions of shining atoms that swirled upward… then through the ceiling… then into the sky above.**

**"Great," Maria said. "He forgot to wash his hands and face again."**

**                                         ************

**Kryys' atoms reassembled themselves next to the River of Time, and Kryys looked up the river… not with the eyes of a mortal but with a non-mortal awareness. After a time, he saw what he wanted. Dissolving into atoms again, Kryys reappeared somewhere on the other side of the river. It was an odd place… not really anything at all… just… nothing. It was beyond time and mere reality. It was here that Kryys expected to find Jeffy's residual pattern… or resonance… if there was one. Not his actual aura or his soul… those would not be found here… but a sort of pattern of who he had been. It didn't take long. Kryys dissolved into a whirlwind of atoms once more then began to add other atoms to his own. After several minutes, he reappeared at the edge of the River of Time. **

**Holding out his arms, Kryys summoned the cosmic winds to him. The winds began to blow… faster, then faster, whipping past Kryys' outstretched arms, slowly "building" a small form… one atom at a time. When they were finished, Kryys looked at the figure in his arms. It was a dark-haired baby with an angelic face. It looked back at him… and it smiled.**

**Kryys smiled back at the baby in his arms. "You are kind of cute… for a baby, I mean."**

**Kryys held the baby to him and dissolved once more into a whirlwind of atoms, reappearing in the dining room with his parents. He looked at his arms, but Jeffy was not there. Without a word, he dissolved again and reappeared on the edge of the River of Time.**

**"You tried, Kryys. It didn't work, did it?"**

**Kryys didn't need to turn around. He knew who it was. "What happened, Master? Where is Jeffy?"**

**"Where he was. You cannot bring him back, little Sundrop."**

**"Why not, Master Drax?"**

**"Ah, little Sundrop! It is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Man can do all manner of things to others when they are men… but once they are in this realm, only they can make the decision to leave here."**

**"But Jeffy's a baby, Master Drax. He can't make any decisions for himself."**

**"I know, Kryys. And that is why he cannot come back."**

**"It's not fair, Master Drax. Jeffy would want to be with his Mama if he knew how…"**

**"But he does not know."**

**"So there is no hope then, Master?"**

**"Well… I didn't say that, Sundrop. You have found him. That is something. Now you must find out how to return him."**

**"Can you tell me, Master?"**

**"No, Sundrop. It is not because I am unwilling. It is because I do not know. If this is to be done, it is something that powers beyond my own will have to accomplish."**

**"I must find the way?"**

**"You must find the way, Sundrop."**

**Kryys nodded. Then he dissolved and reappeared in his own home.**

**tbc**


	49. Rath48

The Four Faces of Rath 

**A Will, A Way, And Family**

**Chapter 48**

**XLVIII **

**Liz sat with her hand over her mouth and her eyes misty and wide open as she listened to Kryys describe the baby he had held in his arms and tried to bring back.**

**"That's him, Kryys! That's Jeffy! My little angel! Where is he now?"**

**"He's still there, Aunt Elizabeth, where he was."**

**"Is he okay, Kryys? Is he safe? Is he happy?" **

**Liz understood the irrelevancy of her questions. More than anyone there other than Kryys himself, Liz knew and understood that Jeffy was in no danger where he was… that he didn't exist physically in the way that we understand existence. But Liz still felt the need to ask.**

**"He's fine," Kryys said. "He smiled at me."**

**Liz looked at Kryys, and her eyes welled up with tears. She smiled, as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Max put his arm around her and kissed her, gently wiping her tears away with his fingertips. **

**"We're going to get him back, Liz. Kryys will find a way… with our help. I'm sure of it."**

**Kryys blushed slightly, and Maria hugged him to her. Michael looked at Kryys and smiled, clearly proud of his son.**

**"I can't wait to see Jeffy," Maria said soothingly to Liz. "Kryys said that he looks like an angel. He said that he was cute for a baby."**

**Liz laughed, even as she wiped another tear from her cheek.**

**"That's high praise from a seven-year-old, Maria. I know Alyyx tries to distance himself from most babies. I think when children –boys especially- are his age and Kryys', they're trying to grow up themselves, and maybe that's just a little too close to… you know… to where they're trying to get away from."**

**Maria nodded. "Yeah, Zorel is ten. Jayyd is younger than Kryys, but only by one year, so he doesn't remember having another baby around. He wasn't old enough. He's still kind of our baby."**

**"I'm not a baby, Mom," Kryys said emphatically. "I'm going to school already."**

**"We know, Kryys," Michael said. "We didn't mean you're a real baby, just that you're one of our children… and you're special to us."**

**"Because I was the president of Alyendis and the allied planets?"**

**"No," Michael said. "…Because you're you… you're our son."**

**"Do you remember that, Kryys… being the president," Liz asked, surprised.**

**"Yeah… sort of. Not all the details, but I know that I did that… The Drax-ta-Kiya says I'll remember everything as I get older. When I'm with him, I remember, but when I'm here, I forget a lot of things."**

**Max nodded. "That's probably good, Kryys. It allows you to grow up as a… well, the way you should, without a lot of adult memories haunting you. There'll be plenty of time for adult memories when you're an adult."**

**"Yeah, I know, Uncle Zan. That's what Master Drax tells me. It's okay. I like playing with Zorel and Alyyx and Danny and the others. A president can't do that."**

**"You are wise beyond your years, Kryys," Max said with a smile. Michael laughed, and Kryys grinned sheepishly.**

**"Kryys, what can your Aunt Liz and I do to help you bring Jeffy back to us?"**

**Kryys thought for several moments. "I don't know, Uncle Zan. I think of more things when I'm in the other place… where the River of Time is. I need to go back there and see if I can think of something."**

**Max looked at Michael and Maria, and they nodded.**

**"You know I want to see the little guy," Maria said. "I already feel like I know him."**

**"Go when you're ready, Kryys," Michael said. "Be back for supper."**

**"I will, Dad," Kryys said, already starting to dissolve into a swirl of brilliant atoms. Michael, Maria, Liz, and Max watched as Kryys disappeared through the ceiling of the palace.**

**"You think he could teach me to do that," Max asked jestingly.**

**"He hasn't had any luck with me," Michael said. "He tried once. I stood outside with my hands out and my eyes closed and concentrated really hard. Then I thought I felt my atoms starting to dissolve, but it had just started to rain. Everybody else ran inside and left me out there with my eyes closed and my arms out in the rain, thinking I was dissolving."**

**Maria giggled. "It's all right, Michael. I like all your atoms right where they are. I don't need any of them changed."**

**Michael blushed slightly and grinned.**

**                                     ************

**Somewhere across time and the universe, far from where Max and Liz sat with Michael and Maria, Kryys sat on a rock at the edge of the River of Time, thinking. **

**"Master Drax said that no one can be taken from here. They would have to leave of their own will. But a baby doesn't have the ability to think that way, so a baby could never leave. And I didn't come from here… I came from somewhere else first and just went back where I came from, so maybe nobody can really ever leave here. I guess if somebody came along and put someone's atoms back in place, that person might be able to return if they had the knowledge required to want to leave." Kryys sighed. "But Jeffy doesn't… He's just a baby."**

**Kryys lifted his head and looked at the River of Time. "But… maybe…"**

**Kryys dissolved and disappeared momentarily. Returning after a few moments, he held out his arms and called for the cosmic winds. In a short time, he once again had Jeffy in his arms.**

**"Jeffy, you're going to take a little ride with me down the river." **

**Kryys held the baby to him and dissolved in a swirl of atoms. This time, though, instead of returning home, he reappeared further down the River of Time. Kryys looked at the baby in his arms. It was no longer a baby… and Kryys was no longer seven. Seven years had passed. Kryys, now fourteen, set the young boy in his arms down.**

**"Jeffy, you've got to want to go home," Kryys said to the now 7-year-old Jeffy.**

**The young boy looked at Kryys with a bewildered look. **

**"Jeffy, your Mama and Daddy want you to come home. Do you understand?"**

**Jeffy looked at Kryys and then at his surroundings but showed no sign of understanding.**

**"Can't you answer me," Kryys asked.**

**"He can't," a voice behind him said. Kryys turned to look at the Drax-ta-Kiya.**

**"He never learned to speak, Kryys. You brought him through time. That was brilliant. I should have thought of it myself. But he doesn't understand. Jeffy is still a baby, because he has never been taught or even been exposed to others long enough to learn or to have any understanding of what you're saying."**

**"I can teach him, Master."**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled. "It is no small matter to take care of a baby and teach it, Kryys. You would have to feed it… now that it is in this form. It could take months, maybe years. I know you are willing, Sundrop, but I do not believe that you are able, even with your abilities. It takes more to raise a baby than just a boy who is willing to teach it."**

**Kryys looked crestfallen. "I tried to think of something, Master, but I don't know what to do. There must be something."**

**"You are very determined, Sundrop. Your determination will serve you well."**

**Kryys turned to ask the Drax-ta-Kiya if he meant by that that he would eventually succeed in getting Jeffy home, but the Drax was gone.**

**"Well, Jeffy, it's just us." Kryys picked up a flat pebble and skipped it over the surface of the river, which wasn't actually water at all but was actually a stream of cosmic particles. It did look very much like a river, though. Kryys waded into the edge of it, holding Jeffy's hand. Jeffy followed along silently. Kryys reached into the cosmic stream and pulled out a small, shining piece, probably a minute remnant from an exploded star or some other cosmic event. He handed it to Jeffy, and Jeffy looked at it then threw it toward the surface of the stream as Kryys had done with the flat pebble.**

**"Yeah, that's how you do it," Kryys said. "But it has to be flat to skip." He picked up a flat pebble and handed it to Jeffy. Jeffy looked at it then threw it at the surface of the stream. It skipped twice then sank into the cosmic stream.**

**"That was very good," Kryys said, grinning. "You learn quick!"**

**Jeffy smiled but said nothing.**

**"Jeffy… I have another idea. I hope you don't mind being a baby again. We're going back where we were." Kryys started to take Jeffy by the hand but then thought for a minute. "I'm going to have to pick you up, Jeffy. When we get there, I wouldn't want to be dangling you by the arm." He reached down and picked Jeffy up in his arms.**

**"You're a really big baby, Jeffy." **

**Jeffy smiled. **

**Kryys dissolved into a swirl of atoms then reappeared at the place he had first brought Jeffy to. He looked around him and called out…**

**"Master Drax! Master Drax, can you come?"**

**"I am here, Sundrop. What do you need?" a voice said.**

**Kryys turned around to face the Drax-ta-Kiya. "Master, hold this," he said, placing the baby in the Drax-ta-Kiya's hands.**

**"What are you planning to do, Sundrop," Master Drax asked, his voice reflecting concern for the first time since Kryys had ever known him.**

**"You'll see, Master. Just wait here!" **

**Kryys dissolved in a swirl of atoms. The Drax-ta-Kiya looked at the baby in his arms. Then he called out hesitantly, "Kryys! You are going to be right back, right?" Kryys didn't answer. He had already disappeared. The Drax-ta-Kiya looked at the baby again and smiled at it.**

**"Well, I guess it's you and me for now, little… let's see, what can I call you? Kryys is already 'Sundrop.' You will be… 'Angel-eyes?' You do have an angelic look, little one… What else could I call you? 'Starshine?' Hmmm. Maybe. Or how about…" **

**Jeffy looked at the Drax and smiled. **

**"'Angel's Smile.'" I'll call you 'Angel's Smile,' because you have an angel's smile… and because you could make an angel smile with that smile of yours, little one.**

**Suddenly, Kryys reappeared. He had Liz by one hand and Max by the other hand. The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled and handed the baby to Liz, who ran to hold it. Kryys thought that he noticed a look of relief on the Master's face. Must have been his imagination, he thought.**

**"Master, I couldn't take Jeffy to his mama and daddy, so I brought his mama and daddy to him."**

**The Master looked at Liz and Max holding the baby in their arms with tears running down their faces. "I know you have good intentions, Sundrop, and you have an angel's heart… but is this really a good idea? They cannot take him home… and they cannot remain here…"**

**"I know, Master. But if this works, they may not have to."**

**"I hope you're right, Sundrop."**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya dismissed himself, leaving Kryys with Liz, Max, and the baby.**

**Kryys watched Liz and Max fawning over the baby, kissing it, playing with it… and he smiled. Then he sat down on his rock by the stream and waited. It was impossible to say exactly how long Liz and Max remained there. Time wasn't exactly measured in this place. But Kryys waited until he judged that they had had several hours with Jeffy. Then without warning or saying a word, he took Liz and Max each by a hand and dissolved with them into a swirl of atoms. As he expected, they arrived back with Jeffy no longer in Liz's arms… and Liz was heartbroken. She pleaded with Kryys… **

**"Kryys, take us back… please. We weren't ready to leave yet. We didn't get to say goodbye to Jeffy…"**

**Kryys looked down timidly at the floor, but he steeled his resolve, knowing that he was doing the right thing.**

**"Kryys," Max said, a tear coursing its way slowly down his own cheek, "…we'll always be eternally grateful to you for giving us this chance to see Jeffy, but couldn't you give Liz… give us… just a few more minutes to say goodbye properly?"**

**Kryys swallowed and shook his head.**

**"Hold out your arms, Aunt Liz."**

**Liz looked at Kryys for a moment, then she did as he said. She waited. "What's supposed to happen," Liz asked after a few moments.**

**"I'm… I'm not sure," Kryys said. "I was hoping…"**

**Suddenly a small stream of atoms swirled through the ceiling and down through the room into Liz's arms. Liz stood dumbfounded as Jeffy appeared in her arms. Then he looked at her, smiled, and cooed. **

**Liz and Max were in Heaven.**

**"How did you know," Max asked Kryys after he had convinced himself that Jeffy was real and was really there in Liz's arms.**

**"I wasn't sure, Uncle Zan, but I thought I felt something when I held Jeffy. He's like me… but he doesn't know about his gift. He's too young. When the bubble disappeared and his atoms dispersed, he was lost… until I found him and brought him back. He just had to want to come here. That's why I took you and Aunt Liz to be with him for a while. He's just a baby, so he had to get to know you again. He remembers you now… and now that he knows where you are he wants to be with you again."**

**"Thank you," Liz said, her voice breaking, as she hugged Kryys and the baby both to her.**

**"That goes for me, too, Kryys, Max said, his eyes red. "I don't know how I can ever repay you…"**

**Kryys smiled. "It's alright, Uncle Zan. I understand."**

**Max nodded. He wondered if Kryys remembered his own children… the ones he left behind on Alyendis when he was brought back to his own time and planet and became a child again. Sometimes he thought Kryys did remember. But he wasn't sure. Some day, of course, he would, and undoubtedly, he would want to return to the family he loved… when he was President Kryys.**

**As Max and Liz stood looking at their new addition, Maya, JoLeesa, Andya, and Alyyx came running into the room from outside…**

**"Mom," Maya started to ask… "When's dinn…?" Maya's eyes grew wide with surprise as she saw the baby… "What's that, Mom?"**

**"This is Jeffy," Liz said, smiling broadly. "…your little brother." Liz held the baby out a bit for the girls and Alyyx to see.**

**"Woah," Alyyx managed to say after a moment. "I didn't know you could get one so fast!"**

**Max laughed, and Liz smiled.**

**"Yeah, Mom," JoLeesa said. "How did you get him so fast? Is he… yours?"**

**"He's all mine," Liz said, grinning. "…all ours," she corrected herself, looking at Max.**

**"We'll explain it all later," Max said.**

**"This time, Dad," Alyyx said, "when you explain about that stuff… start all over. Either I missed something major or you didn't tell me everything there was to know."**

**Max pulled Alyyx to him and tousled his hair a bit, laughing. Then he put his arms around the girls and Liz, with Jeffy in her arms, and pulled them all together.**

**"Come here, Kryys!" He pulled Kryys into the group. "You'll always be like one of our children, Kryys. We'll always love you like our own."**

**Kryys smiled and breathed in deeply, apparently feeling that his efforts were well rewarded already. **

**"Can I take you home, Max asked?"**

**Kryys shook his head. "No need, Uncle Zan. I can get there faster… It's almost supper time, and I promised Dad I'd be back for supper."**

**Max smiled. "Thanks again, Kryys. If we can ever…"  
  
**

**Kryys grinned then dissolved into billions of brilliant atoms that swirled around the room and disappeared through the ceiling. Max turned his attention to Liz and Jeffy. He kissed Jeffy on the cheek then kissed Liz and put his arm around them and the other children. **

**"Family!" Max said smiling. "Let's go get dinner somewhere. I'm hungry."**

**Liz smiled. "Yeah… I think I am, too. Can we go to Var'nat's Kires-Ryym? It's a great [b]family[/b] restaurant with great food… and they love babies there. I just need to pick up some special items first at a store somewhere…" She motioned toward Jeffy.**

**Max smiled and nodded. "Yeah! A family place!" He looked at Jeffy's smiling face and touched him on the tip of the nose playfully. "Because we're a family, Jeffy!" **

**tbc**


	50. Rath49

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Jungle Jim Returns**

**Chapter 49**

**XLIX **

**"Okay, aim the cameras right over here. I'm going to be standing right here when I open. Then I'll turn and walk into the Nan-Torel… and you guys will follow me with the cameras… into the Nan-Torel… Got that?"**

**The camera crew nodded.**

**"Good! This show is going to happen gentlemen… and lady," Jim said, nodding toward Obyal Var of Video XSO Xarius. "I had to bring you guys all the way from Xarius, but it'll be worth it. I'm gonna teach these Antarians about their fauna if it kills me." **

**Jim thought about that last statement a moment… "And I don't mean like the Antarians think it's going to, either!"**

**There was some chuckling from the camera crew, which consisted of four large, beefy Xarian male cameramen and Obyal Var, the well-known female correspondent from Xarius.**

**"Okay, let's do it," Jim said, staking out his position in front of the cameras. "Action, gentlemen!"**

**The cameras came on, and Jim smiled as they panned dramatically across the dark Nan-Torel and came to rest on his face.**

**"Hello, and welcome to the Jungle Jim Show! Last week I promised you that I would return and we would take a trip into the Nan-Torel. Today, that is finally going to happen. I want to thank the team from Video XSO of Xarius for coming here to film this for you today." Jim motioned toward the camera crew, and one of the cameras panned slowly over the five Xarians. Each one smiled and waved in turn.**

**In the square in the center of town, Antarians were already packed around the public viewing screen. The rest were all in their homes watching. The Return of Jungle Jim was unquestionably the most eagerly anticipated event to ever hit Antarian "TV."**

**"They're all gonna get eaten," one Antarian woman said, as she and a friend watched in the public square.**

**The other woman chuckled. "They're taking bets down at Rag'lyng's on how long it will take till the first one gets eaten… and what will eat him."**

**The first woman shook her head. "Well, I hope Jungle Jim doesn't get eaten myself. I'd like to see him come back every week. He's interesting… and he's kind of good looking…"**

**Her friend nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that, too…" Then she added, "But don't get too attached to him. He's going to get eaten." **

**Jim turned and motioned to his crew, then he walked toward the edge of the Nan-Torel. The crew followed, much to Jim's relief. There were no real paths in the Nan-Torel… at least not ones made by human feet. No Antarians ever went in there voluntarily. But there were smaller trails… ones made by… well… no one really knew what.**

**The first thing that became obvious as they plodded into the Nan-Torel, was that there was not an abundance of light available. The trees and jungle-like growth were dense everywhere. Fortunately, the Xarian cameras, like their Antarian counterparts, had advanced power cores that could run for days without recharging. The lights could also burn for as long as was likely to be needed without any recharging, so lighting would not be a problem.**

**The camera crew followed, recording every step Jim took and every plant he pushed out of the way, as they pressed on for the next fifteen minutes deeper into the Nan-Torel's dark depths. About half a mile inside the forest-jungle, Jim stopped and turned toward the cameras with a smile…**

**"Folks, this is something I want to show you." Jim held up the branch of a Guma plant. Its huge orange, purple, and red mushroom-like leaves waved and undulated as if they were alive.**

**"This is a poison Guma fungus plant. The leaves of the Guma plant are not normally deadly to touch, but they can leave some very painful reminders of why they are called 'poison' Guma plants. These leaves move around almost as if they were… well, I would say alive, but the fact is, they are alive. All plants are alive, and all plants move! They just normally move too slowly for us to notice. You have undoubtedly seen that many flowers open in the day and close at night… the Yura flower always faces the sun… and the Dyswo plant lies down at night but reawakens and creeps slowly back up as the sun rises in the day. The poison Guma plant moves, too. The difference, of course, is that its movements can be observed. It is saying to keep away. That is why, as you can see, I am being careful to touch only the branches and not the beautiful fungus leaves."**

**Jim carefully let the branch back down, and the camera crew turned sideways to squeeze by the plant, giving it a wide berth. Suddenly, everyone heard a noise… something that sounded like a flutter of wings. The camera crew looked around somewhat nervously, but no one saw anything. Jim searched the trees. He didn't see what had made the sound, but he did see some trees that interested him.**

**"These are Ama trees," Jim said, smiling broadly. "You may be familiar with a smaller subspecies of the Ama tree. It grows outside the Nan-Torel, and its leaves, which are also much smaller, are often used to make salads. A smaller, less-poisonous relative of the Guma plant can also be found outside the Nan-Torel, and it is often detoxified and eaten in salads. The leaves of the giant Ama trees of the Nan-Torel fall densely on the forest floor in many places, and they can be very useful to you if you should ever happen to spend the night out here."**

**Around TV screens all over Antar, more than a few viewers chuckled at Jim's last statement. "There's no chance that's ever going to happen," seemed to be the comment heard from most of those watching.**

**"The fact is," Jim continued, "when Zan was forced to flee into the Nan-Torel to escape from Kivar's soldiers during the Battle for Antar, he slept under piles of Ama leaves at night. And do you know why? I'll give you a clue… It wasn't to stay warm. The Nan-Torel is quite warm. Sleeping under a big pile of Ama leaves**** was the only means he had to protect himself from the bat-like rob-jeta that descend on any unprotected living thing in the Nan-Torel at night like flying meat cleavers. The rob-jeta can devour a shebble –or an Antarian for that matter- down to the bones in just three minutes while it sleeps.**

**"Well, only if someone is crazy enough to sleep in the Nan-Torel," one of the viewers in the square said, eliciting another round of laughter from the crowd gathered there.**

**Not seeing the source of the sound they had heard earlier, Jim led the camera crew further down the small, unknown trail… or what appeared to be a trail. Then he stopped again, this time to carefully pick up a ten-foot-long snake that he spotted in a bush. The snake was red with brilliant blue zig-zags that somewhat resembled lightning bolts along its sides. Above the zig-zag pattern, there were small, luminescent greenish spots that glowed brightly in the Nan-Torel's darkness. The belly was a very light minty green color.**

**"Look at this little beauty," Jim said enthusiastically, holding the snake up, as the camera crew backed away a few feet. "What a find this is! This is just extraordinary! I can't believe our good luck! What I have here is none other than an Antarian green-spotted fire snake. Many of you have heard of the fire snake… but most Antarians believe it is merely a myth. And yet here it is… one of those legendary snakes, my friends, live and… hissing its displeasure at us… **

**Check this out!"**

**Jim picked up a small branch from the ground and carefully pulled the snake's tail with the branch until the tip of the tail touched the snake's head. As soon as it did, the entire snake lit up then seemed to explode, throwing a roaring sheet of flames high into the air. The camera crew backed up quite a bit further, and some of them looked around nervously.**

**"Don't worry," Jim said, smiling, as he gently draped the fire snake back over its bush. "The snake was not harmed. The sheet of flames she shoots out is her way of defending herself. In the Nan-Torel every creature must have some means of defense to survive. Few other creatures will mess with a fire snake."**

**"I can see why," one of the cameramen mumbled. Obyal Var swallowed and nodded, her eyes still wide.**

**As Jim turned to lead the crew down the trail a bit further, one of the cameramen tripped and fell headlong on the ground. The other cameramen stared as the ground rose up where the fallen cameraman had gone down… then the ground moved to one side. Obyal Var turned a camera on her fallen comrade and followed the moving mound of leaves and grass, which continued to grow higher and higher. Jim rushed over to it and attempted to lift it so that the cameras could get a better view.**

**"Help me out here someone. This guy's heavy!"**

**The camera crew seemed unsure.**

**"It's just a wiffer," Jim said. It's a large animal similar to a turtle. It's harmless. The leaves and grass stuck all over its back are its defense. It stays camouflaged."**

**Two of the large Xarian men decided to assist Jim, and together they lifted the wiffer for Obyal Var to get a good shot of it. It did look very much like a turtle, but it was probably something entirely different. The head had a pair of stiff combs or ridges that were vaguely reminiscent of a dinosaur's. The tail was armored and had spikes on the sides. In spite of its appearance, though, the wiffer appeared to be quite gentle and harmless. The three men set it back down, and it quickly used its spiked tail to dig into the ground and bury itself again, leaving only a few inches of its camouflaged shell protruding above the ground. So this was what the cameraman had tripped over.**

**Having seen and touched the gentle wiffer, the camera crew seemed more relaxed, calmer, and less nervous… but that was only until they heard the shriek. It pierced the darkness like a stab going through each one there. And it was followed by a series of short shrieks from the other side of them.**

**"Oh! Excellent!" Jim said. "That was the sound of the wild pawgor and its mate answering him!"**

**Jim turned around to address the cameras, but they weren't there. In homes all over Antar and in the public square, viewers watched as bushes, underbrush, and poison Guma plants rushed by. All they could see were feet running as the cameras bounced aimlessly around, held by the camera crew running for their lives. **

**In the palace, Liz and Max watched and smiled, then they looked at each other and both began to laugh.**

**"Oh God, I shouldn't be laughing," Liz said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I feel guilty. Jim is our friend. He's like family."******

**In the countryside, at his own home, Jim's oldest son, Kyle, was feeling no such guilt as he rolled on the floor with laughter, causing Jeliya to smile in spite of herself.**

**"Kyle, you're awful, you know that? He's your Dad."**

**"I know," Kyle said, breaking into another fit of hysterical laughter.**

**"Aren't you worried about him?"**

**"Who? Dad? Naw… He'll be fine. He may not be amused, but he'll be fine, Jilly. This reminds me of a low-budget movie some college kids made back on Earth called 'The Blair Witch Project' or something like that. It was just a bunch of people running and all you saw was their feet and bushes and the ground going by." Kyle lapsed into laughter again. "I know Dad's not going to be amused, but it's funny as hell!"**

**                                      ************

**Jim was sitting next to the Starkeen River tossing pebbles into the water when Kyle walked up.**

**"How's it going, Dad?"**

**"I'll live," Jim said, tossing another pebble into the water. **

**"Aw, Dad… You still steaming about the Xarian camera guys running out on you?"**

**"I looked like a fool, Kyle. What was I thinking?"**

**"Maybe you were thinking that Antar needs a little education about its natural heritage. Maybe you were thinking that they would learn something… and enjoy it… and you'd enjoy doing it."**

**"Maybe I was an idiot," Jim said quietly, tossing another pebble into the river.**

**"Well, the VideoAntar News teams don't think so, Dad." **

**Kyle sat down next to his father. "They were saying this morning that you've done something that no one ever expected or ever has before. You've awakened a real interest in Antarians in their natural heritage. They want more."**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Yeah! The Jungle Jim show outperformed every other show in Antarian history."**

**"That's just because everyone wanted to see me get eaten." **

**"No it's not, Dad. Antarians just have a sense of humor."**

**"So I'll laugh while I'm being eaten."**

**"You don't get it, Dad. They don't really want you to get eaten. They just enjoy saying that. It's like a big joke. They like to have fun with everything. And now they say that there's a real interest growing in the fauna of the Nan-Torel, and it's because of you."**

**"Yeah? You really think so?"  
  
**

**"I know so, Dad. I've heard it everywhere. They want more of Jungle Jim!"**

**Jim sighed and tossed another pebble into the river. "It's no use anyway, son. I'll never find a crew that won't run the first time something howls out there. I can't blame them really. They don't understand the wildlife in there. They're scared. They don't want to get eaten… and if they went in there without the proper understanding and respect for the wildlife, they would."**

**"Exactly, Dad… and that's why Jungle Jim is needed."**

**Jim looked at Kyle and thought about what he had said, then he nodded. "Yeah… so the message is really gettin' through, huh?"**

**"Yeah, Dad. It is."**

**"Alright. Alright, then. I'll give it one more go." Jim stood up and dusted himself off. "Let's go up to the house and have some coffee. We can talk about how I'm gonna hogtie the next camera crew and keep 'em on a leash."**

**Kyle laughed. "Well, the Xarian crew won't be able to return for quite a while."**

**"Why's that, Kyle?"**

**"The news on VideoAntar said they were all suffering from poison Guma plant rashes. Seems they weren't as careful when they were running to get back out of the Nan-Torel as they were going in."**

**Jim laughed. "Well, they'll get over it."**

**"So will you, Dad. Come on! Let's get that cup o' coffee you promised me."**

**tbc**


	51. Rath50

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Mysteries Of Jeffy**

**Chapter 50**

**L **

**"He's beautiful, Mom!" Maya said, as she gazed at the face of her new little baby brother. "But I still don't understand where you found him."**

**Liz smiled, and Max grinned and shook his head.**

**"We didn't 'find' him," Max said. "Well, we did… but that was only after… well, I mean… we lost him first. Okay, that's not exactly what I meant to say, either. It's not like we just misplaced him… it's more like… Feel free to jump in anytime and help me out here, Liz."**

**"You're doing such a great job, Hon. I wouldn't want to stop you when you're on a roll."**

**"I'll forgive you, Liz. Have a little mercy here… Please?"**

**"Well, it's like this, Maya, your Dad and I had Jeffy in another timeline… only it wasn't a timeline, it was more of a displaced time bubble with no past. Then this timeline here got fixed, and that bubble ceased to exist, and Jeffy ceased to exist…"**

**"Dad, what's Mom talking about," Andya asked.**

**Max smiled. "Oh, she's explaining it right, Andya."**

**"Well, it's making about as much sense as you were."**

**Max pursed his lips tightly together and reached out pretending to whack Andya on the back of the head. Andya giggled and jumped out of the way.**

**"Well, it's true, Dad. I mean, you guys just suddenly show up with a baby, and you say he's yours, but Mom wasn't pregnant, and nobody told us anything about him coming. Now you're talking about some timeline that wasn't a timeline. And you say Jeffy was born in a bubble…"**

**"Yeah… sort of," Max said. "But not a little bubble that was just around him… a big bubble. A sort of time… anomaly. He was born here in the palace, but not in this time that we're in right now."**

**"I think I understand," JoLeesa said, "but when were you in that other time… bubble… thing? And how did Jeffy get born?"**

**"Really, Leese!" Alyyx exclaimed. "Even I know how babies get born."**

**JoLeesa looked at Alyyx.**

**"Okay," Alyyx said, throwing up his hands. "I admit, this one maybe isn't like what Dad explained to me when he told me about babies."**

**"Well, it did happen the normal way, Alyyx," Max said. "It took nine months for him to be born. We just weren't here… your mom and me."**

**"If you were gone, Dad… and Mom was gone… where were we?" JoLeesa asked.**

**"I really don't know the answer to that, JoLeesa," Liz said. "It's a very good question."**

**"Maybe you lost us," Alyyx said.**

**JoLeesa huffed and looked at Alyyx again. "She didn't lose us, Alyyx, you dummy! But if she had lost you, it might have been okay."**

**"Oh yeah? Well, if she lost you, Leese, she'd still have two others just like you. I'm the only one like me."**

**"Not any more," JoLeesa said.**

**"You wouldn't lose me, would you, Mom?"**

**"Of course not, Alyyx. And we wouldn't lose your sister either… any of them. We need all of you! You're all our children, and you're all special!"**

**"See, Leese!" Alyyx said. "I'm special."**

**"So are grelliats," JoLeesa said, "but they're vegetables."**

**"Mom!"**

**"Oh, Alyyx, your sister's just teasing you. Leesa, leave your brother alone. He's not a vegetable."**

**"I know. Vegetables are wholesome and good for you," JoLeesa said.**

**She noticed Max giving her a stern look.**

**"Okay, Alyyx, you're not a vegetable."**

**"Mom, I don't think I like what she meant by that."**

**"Alyyx!" Liz threatened. "I thought you guys wanted to see the baby!"**

**"We do, Mom," Andya said. "Can I hold him?"**

**Liz looked at Jeffy. "Sure. Hold out your arms." She placed Jeffy carefully into Andya's arms, and Andya smiled as she held him next to her and wrapped the blanket back over his feet.**

**"He's such a little angel, Mom."**

**Liz smiled.**

**Andya's eyes suddenly lit up, as an idea came into her head.**

**"What would you like to play with, little one," Andya whispered quietly to him. "A bunny? No, that's maybe not the best thing." Andya remembered her last experience with a rabbit. "An Earth puppy?" she said, almost to herself. "No… too frisky, a kitten, too. I know!" Andya waved her little finger under the blanket, and something appeared on top of the blanket between Jeffy's hands. Liz and Max both noticed it immediately, and both knew who was responsible.**

**"What is that, Andya," Liz asked.**

**Andya just smiled, and Liz moved closer to look at it, as Jeffy picked it up in his hands. It was fuzzy. It wriggled and made a quiet mewing sound, but it didn't look like something that would normally be alive. Jeffy seemed delighted by it, if the look on his face was any indication.**

**"What is that," Max asked, repeating Liz's question.**

**"What does it look like," Andya asked evasively, delaying the inevitable answer.**

**"A toupée that came to life and escaped off of some bald guy's head," Max said… "or maybe a Pekingese that had a tragic encounter with a tank."**

**"D'oh, really!" Liz exclaimed, swatting Max playfully on the arm. Turning to Andya, Liz said, "Look, Andya, you're going to have to tell us, you know. You might as well do it right now." The look in her mother's eyes told Andya that Liz wasn't going to accept another evasive answer.**

**Andya looked at the fuzzy little creature in Jeffy's hands.**

**"Well, Mom, a baby pawgor would be too big, and a puppy would be too frisky, and a rabbit would run away, so I… so I… made him a tribble."**

**"A what," Liz asked, wondering if she had heard right.**

**"I saw them on cable… from Earth."**

**"Tribbles?"**

**"Yeah! They're cute… and fuzzy… and they don't bite or scratch or run away! It's perfect, Mom!"  
  
**

**Liz looked at Max, a totally bemused expression on her face. No words came to her, which was a bit unusual.**

**"Honey," Max said to Andya, "I think you should get rid of it."**

**"But why, Dad? Didn't you ever have a tribble when you were little?"**

**"They weren't real, Andya… like this one. And I do remember them. I also remember what the trouble with tribbles was."**

**"Aw, Dad…" Andya looked at Liz, and Liz nodded, though Andya thought her mom appeared to be relenting.**

**Andya sighed and waved her little finger under the blanket again, and the tribble disappeared.**

**"Thank you," Max said.**

**"Can I hold Jeffy, too, Mom," Maya asked.**

**"I guess so," Liz said. "Andya, do you mind?"**

**Andya handed Jeffy over to Maya, as Liz watched.**

**"Hi, Jeffy!" Maya said, looking at him and smiling. "You're so sweet! Where were you hiding all this time? I'm glad Mom and Dad found you wherever you were."**

**JoLeesa leaned over Maya's arms and kissed Jeffy on the cheek. "We're going to have a lot of fun, Jeffy. I'm really glad to have another little brother."**

**"Yeah, sure you are," Alyyx said drily.**

**"Well, I am," JoLeesa said. "The old one was defective."**

**"Mom!"**

**"You started it, Alyyx," Liz said. "Both of you knock it off!"**

**Liz looked at Jeffy then turned back to Andya with a look that said she was not amused.**

**"Andya, your Dad told you to get rid of the tribble! I did, too! I've never known you to disobey a direct order before."**

**"I Didn't, Mom! Really! I made it go away."**

**"But you brought it back."**

**"No I didn't, Mom!"**

**"Well, what's that then?"**

**Andya looked. Jeffy was holding the tribble in his hands, staring at it with a smile on his face.**

**"Mom, I didn't! I swear it! Maybe the molecules didn't all go away."**

**"Alright, just get rid of it." **

**Andya passed her hand over the tribble, and it disappeared. But almost as soon as she had done it, a small swirl of atoms brought it back to Jeffy's hands again. Liz sat down on a chair with a stunned look on her face. "Max?"**

**"I saw it, Liz." **

**Max looked at the little ball of fluff in Jeffy's hands and shrugged. "Maybe we can get it 'fixed.'"**

**tbc**

**-------------------------------------------**

**Author's Note: For non-trekkies who may never have heard of a tribble, in the original series of Star Trek, there was an episode called, "The Trouble With Tribbles." Someone brought one onboard, and everyone loved the cute, cuddly little thing. The trouble was, in a couple of days, no one could walk, sit down, or even open a door without thousands of tribbles tumbling out all over them. In a later episode of a later series someone almost started a war with the Klingons by selling a tribble on a Klingon planet.**

**------------------------------------------**


	52. Rath51

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Relatively Speaking**

**Chapter 51**

**LI **

**After returning from dinner, Liz put Jeffy in his crib and let Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx go over to Kyle and Jeliya's house to play with Rayyn and Taz. Jeliya promised to bring them back when she returned to pick Kyle up at the end of his shift at the palace. With the palace temporarily free of children, Max sat down in his oversized Antarian easy chair and leaned back to relax. Liz sat down across his lap and leaned her forehead against his, smiling playfully. Max smiled back.**

**"How about a little kiss, Max… I need something to go on here."**

**Max pressed his lips to Liz's, and Liz put one arm around Max's neck and ran her fingers up into his hair. Max pulled her tighter against him, enjoying the sensuous feel and taste of her soft, welcoming lips. He ran his right hand under the back of her blouse. A touch… and a clasp came loose. It was one of the advantages of having certain… powers. Max gently ran the tips of his fingers back down along the center of her back all the way to the tip of her spine then slowly brought his hand around toward the front. Liz smiled and parted her lips further, deepening her kiss as she allowed herself to be lost in the passions of the moment. Suddenly, she exhaled with an audible though almost whispered gasp or sigh. **

**"Omigod, Max, what was that?"  **

**"Do you like it?" Max smiled. "It's just a mild electric pulse… from my hand."**

**Liz didn't answer. Instead, she turned around to face Max. Straddling his lap, she took his face in both hands and pressed her lips to his waiting mouth again. Though fully dressed, Max felt every contour of Liz's body pressing against him in all the right places. It felt good. He could feel a rising pressure, as Liz pressed harder against him… or maybe that was him.**

**Liz felt it, too.**

**"You want to go up to our room for a while, Max?"**

**Max looked into Liz's eyes, and a grin inched over his face. "Yeah. That sounds good."**

**Liz put both of her arms around Max's neck, and he stood up with her in his arms. Then a voice interrupted from the parlor entrance. **

**"Ahem."**

**Max turned around to see where the offending noise had come from.**

**"Sorry, Max, but you have visitors," Kyle said. "Michael and Maria."**

**"Oh! Uh… Okay, well… send them in, Kyle. Just give me a moment to… comb my hair… or something," Max said, setting Liz down on her feet and trying clumsily to stand up straight and not look too totally obvious.**

**Kyle nodded solemnly then turned and walked out of the room. As he walked toward the front entrance, his solemn look was replaced by a grin.  **

**"We really need to put a bell on him," Max said.**

**Liz giggled.**

**Max finished tucking his shirt tails back in, and Liz straightened her blouse, then Max nodded to Kyle, who was with Michael and Maria in the foyer. Kyle showed them into the parlor. Michael and Maria didn't really need an escort. They were thoroughly familiar with the palace. Besides, Michael still had his own private room there. He rarely stayed there anymore, but now and then, he and Maria… and sometimes their children, too… would stay over.**

**"Michael! Maria!" Max said, smiling.**

**Liz smiled at Michael and hugged Maria.**

**"What brings you guys out tonight," Max asked. **

**Michael smiled and looked back and forth between Max and Liz. "I… uh… we're not interrupting something, are we? Cause if we are, we can come back later… or tomorrow…"**

**"No! No! No… You're not interrupting anything, Michael," Liz said. **

**"Not now, you're not," Max said under his breath. Then he smiled. "No. You're not interrupting anything, Michael."**

**"Alright, 'cause if I was, I could always come back later, you know."**

**"No, no. I was just helping Liz get something out of her eye."**

**"Oh! Well, go ahead, Max! I'll wait."**

**"Uh… No. That's all right. I think I got it."**

**Liz winked at Maria, and Maria smiled and winked back. Michael noticed.**

**"You got something in your eye, too, Maria?"**

**Maria smiled coyly. "I think so. Maybe you should take a look at it… up close."**

**Michael looked at Maria for a moment then turned his head to the side and smiled. Then he turned his eyes back toward Maria and grinned, as he shook his head.**

**"Can it wait till we get home?"**

**"I think so."**

**"Good. 'Cause I got the right… uh… tools there."**

**"Sit down," Liz said, motioning to the sofa. "I'll get you something to drink. Coffee? Snapples? Cherry Coke? Jubish? Whatever you want."**

**"Yeah… okay… uh, a little cherry Coke with a dash of jubish and a couple o' teaspoons of Tabasco would be very nice," Michael said.**

**Liz looked at Max. "Yeah… I'll go for that," Max said. "Sounds good."**

**Maria nodded. "Same here… minus the T-sauce."**

**"Gotcha," Liz said as she headed for the kitchen. **

**"I'll help you, Liz." Maria hopped up and headed toward the kitchen, too.**

**"Kryys told us you got Jeffy back." **

**Liz nodded. "Thanks to Kryys. That wonderful son of yours is a miracle worker, Maria. The Nogi-Ky'a could learn from him. A billion years of evolution and experience, and they've got nothing on Kryys."**

**Maria grinned and nodded. "I want to see Jeffy, Liz. Can I? Is he asleep?"**

**"I think so, but you can see him. Help me take these drinks out to the coffee table, then we'll go up and get him."**

**Liz and Maria returned and set the drinks on the table then went together up to Jeffy's room. He was sleeping with a smile on his face.**

**Maria gasped. "He's beautiful, Liz! Omigod! What a little angel!"**

**"Yeah," Liz said, smiling, "but I think he's going to be a handful. I've just got a feeling."**

**"Well, if you need any help, Liz, you know Auntie Maria is always here," Maria said with a grin. **

**"Thanks, Maria. I'll keep that in mind. You can count on it."**

**Liz picked Jeffy up and put him in Maria's arms.**

**"Awwwww," Maria cooed softly. "He's so sweet. Look at that smile!"**

**"Yeah. I wonder what he's dreaming about," Liz said.**

**"Maybe he's happy to finally be home," Maria replied simply.**

**Liz looked at Maria, and her eyes misted up. "Yeah, that could be it, Maria."**

**"Come on, Liz. I want to show him to Michael. Can we take him down…?"**

**"Sure. Come on."**

**Maria and Liz walked back down the grand staircase to the parlor with Jeffy in Maria's arms. Maria smiled and held Jeffy out slightly for Michael to see.**

**"He's adorable," Michael said simply. "You must be very happy."**

**Liz smiled and wiped away a tear that was forming in the corner of her eye. "We are. Believe me."**

**"Looks like he's happy, too," Michael said.**

**Liz nodded and looked at Maria.**

**"He's happy to finally be home with his mommy and daddy again," Maria said. "I can read baby smiles."**

**Max, Michael, and Liz laughed, and Liz nodded her agreement.**

**"Jayyd and Zorel wanted to see him, too," Maria said… "especially Jayyd, but it was getting a little late, and we weren't sure when we would be back, so Amy's watching them and Liz-Jolee at our house. They're going to stay over and go yorith riding in the morning with Varec."  
  
**

**"Sounds like fun," Max said.**

**Max looked at Michael, and Michael gave Max a puzzled look.**

**"What?"**

**"Nothing. Never mind. Just my imagination."**

**"Since you brought up imaginations, have you had any more dreams lately, Michael?"**

**Michael shook his head, as he took another sip of his drink. "Nothing worth mentioning. I'm satisfied with who I am now, Max. I know who I am. I don't hate Rath anymore, and I'm not scared of being him. I understand him. Everything's cool."**

**"How about the flying dreams?"**

**Michael looked slightly uneasy. "Well, I had that dream again a few days ago… but it's not bad, so there's nothing to worry about, right?"**

**"Right."**

**"Max?" Michael looked at Max again with the same puzzled look as before. "Are you having a rodent problem in the palace?"**

**"No! What would make you think that?"**

**"Well, I thought I saw a reddish brown rat or something peek out from behind the door over there. Then I thought it must have been my imagination. But I just saw it again. Something's running around in here."**

**Maria picked her feet up and crossed them on the sofa, as she looked to see what Michael was talking about, but she saw nothing.**

**"I think you saw Harold," Liz said.**

**Maria and Michael both looked at Liz questioningly. **

**"Yeah, well, it's… that is, he's… well, we're not sure it's a he, really," Liz said. "It may be a Harriet."**

**"Say what?" Michael said, looking totally confused.**

**"Harold," Liz called softly. "Come here. I'll give you a cookie."**

**A small, hairy object the color of burnt sienna moved cautiously out from behind the door and made its way toward Liz. **

**Maria pulled her legs further up under herself on the sofa. "What is that, Liz?"**

**"You want to take any guesses, Michael," Max asked with a grin.**

**Michael shook his head. "Something Danny's pawgor ate that didn't get digested, I'd say. It looks like a pawgor fur ball. And I think it's alive."**

**Maria slapped Michael on the arm playfully. "Really, Michael!"**

**"Well, it does."**

**"Ever hear of a tribble?" Max asked.**

**Michael looked at Max and slowly grinned a lopsided sort of grin. He knew that Max might be pulling a practical joke on him. Pulling practical jokes on Michael was more up Kyle's alley. Still, he wouldn't rule it out in Max's case. Sometimes Max would pull something off out of the blue. It was usually successful, because it was so unpredictable and because Max was capable of keeping such a poker face.**

**"I'm not falling, Max. Next, you'll have some guy with pointy ears walk in here and say he's Spock."**

**Max laughed and picked the furry little creature up.**

**"It's a tribble, Michael. Really! Want to hold it?"**

**Michael put out his hand, and Max handed him the little tribble.**

**"Okay, Max, this may sound crazy but… Where'd you get a tribble? Huh? Oh, wait a minute! I know! You had that little guy, uh… Frebel-Ish make it for you."**

**Max shook his head. "Nope. Andya made this one. You know she can conjure up animals."**

**"Yeah, I heard that. But why a tribble?"**

**"She gave it to Jeffy."**

**Michael was silent for a few moments.**

**"Does it bite?"**

**"No. It doesn't bite, scratch, run away, grow too big, or eat too much. It just has one flaw."**

**"I know," Michael nodded. I used to watch Star Trek reruns. "Did you take care of that little problem?"**

**"Not yet… but I guess we'll have to do something. We don't know for sure if it's a male or a female. For now, it's Harold either way. 'Hair'-old, get it?"**

**Michael nodded.**

**"Jeffy won't let us get rid of it. We tried, but he brought it back."**

**"Jeffy?" Maria repeated questioningly.**

**"Yeah. Didn't Kryys tell you about Jeffy?"**

**"He told us that Jeffy has the same power that he has to change into atoms at will. But he doesn't think Jeffy understands that he can do it. Kryys said that Jeffy was able to come back, because he had a strong desire to be with you."**

**Max nodded. "Well, Jeffy knows how to turn a tribble into atoms and bring it back."**

**Michael raised his eyebrows. **

**"Oh, wow!" Maria said softly. "Kryys didn't know about his power until he was six. I'm kind of glad. Now I see why you said you may have your hands full."**

**"You still want to help take care of him, Auntie Maria," Liz asked with a laugh.**

**Maria smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sure! What's another little wizard or two in the family, 'relatively' speaking?"**

**tbc**


	53. Rath52

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**SeXXX 101**

**Chapter 52**

**LII **

**Varec turned the fluffy little creature upside down and pushed the fluff aside with his fingers, then, thinking that maybe he had had it right to begin with, he turned it back over and checked the other side. Then he turned it around and checked the other end.**

**"I'm sorry, Zan. I can't tell you if it's a male or a female. The scans didn't show anything, either. I guess I could dissect it."**

**"No!" both Max and Liz said at the same time.**

**"No," Max repeated. "That won't be necessary. We'll find some other way to tell. **

**"Well, if it's a male, you'll only have a problem if you get another one and it's a female. If it's a female… I can't be sure what will happen. I'm not familiar with this species. But I can't find any evidence of sexual organs anywhere. I have no idea how it reproduces."**

**"Thanks, Varec," Liz said. Then she turned to Max. "Do you think Kryys could tell? You know… if he turned into molecules and, like, checked it out… or something."**

**Max smiled then started to laugh.**

**"What's so funny?"**

**"Just the picture that left in my head… of Kryys turning into atoms and checking out the sex of a tribble… or whatever this crazy little thing is."**

**Liz smiled. "Well, I didn't mean it to be funny. I just thought that maybe he could check it… sort of… you know, internally."**

**"We can ask him, I guess… if he wants to do it."**

**"That's what I meant."**

**"Thanks for trying, Varec. We'll run over to Michael's and see if Kryys can tell us what it is."**

**"Okay. Sorry I couldn't help, Zan. I'd be interested in knowing what it is myself if you find out."**

**"I'll let you know."**

**Max and Liz left Varec and Amy's house and drove to Michael and Maria's place in the country, not far from the Valenti estate. Maria saw them coming and came out to meet them.**

**"Hi, Liz! Max! What are you guys doing way out here at this time of day?"**

**"We were looking for some information," Liz said.  
  
**

**"About what?"**

**"Sex," Max said.**

**Maria grinned then turned around and yelled into the house. "Michael, you're wanted!"**

**Michael came out of the house wearing a chef's apron and carrying a spatula.**

**"Hey, guys. What's up?"**

**"You barbecuing, Michael," Max asked.**

**"Not yet. Just getting ready to."**

**"Michael makes great barbecued yegg steaks," Maria said. Then she turned to Michael…**

**"Max said he was looking for information about sex."**

**Michael grinned. "Well, you came to the right place, Max. I'm glad to see you know where to go. I didn't know you needed a tutorial, though."**

**"Get real, Michael." Max raised one eyebrow slightly. "We just wanted to know what sex Harold is."**

**"Oh. Well, you see, Max, you turn 'im upside down and if…"**

**"Yeah, yeah! …Never mind that, Michael."**

**Michael and Maria both laughed.**

**"We tried that already. We couldn't tell. Neither could Varec."**

**"Varec couldn't tell? What is it… asexual?"**

**"I don't know, Michael. Maybe it reproduces some other way. We wondered if Kryys could tell us what it is."**

**"Probably. I explained all this to him already." Michael snickered. "I'll see if Kryys wants to explain it to you." **

**Michael gave Liz a sad look.**

**"Laugh it up, Michael," Max said. "You won't be able to tell, either."**

**Michael went into the house to look for Kryys, still snickering to himself. In a couple of minutes, he was back with Kryys.**

**"Dad said you need to know how to tell a boy from a girl."**

**Michael grinned.**

**"I think Max already knows that, Kryys," Liz said, smiling. "What Max… what we need to know is what sex Harold is."**

**"You don't know how to tell?"**

**Michael snorted, and Maria smiled in spite of herself. Max turned slightly red.**

**"We know how to tell, Kryys," Liz said. "But Harold is sort of… different. You see, we already tried the usual methods, and we can't tell. Varec couldn't either. Even his scans couldn't tell."**

**"So… you want me to check 'Harold' out… inside…"**

**"If you wouldn't mind, Kryys… Would you mind checking him… her… whatever?"**

**Kryys looked at the little ball of fluff and shrugged. Then he began to dissolve into atoms. The atoms swirled around the little creature tightly then passed into and through it as Max held it in his hand. After a few seconds, Kryys reappeared.**

**"What is it," Liz asked.**

**"It's neither one," Kryys said. "It's not a boy or a girl."**

**"How does it reproduce, then," Liz asked.**

**"I don't know," Kryys said. "I didn't see anything that might function as reproductive organs."**

**"See, Michael," Max said. "It's not just me."**

**Michael grinned.**

**"We appreciate you're checking Harold out, Kryys," Max said. "Here." He handed Kryys several coruns, equal to about two dollars each. Kryys smiled, and his eyes lit up.**

**"Thanks! Any time you want to know what sex something is, just bring it to me, Uncle Max!"**

**Michael was struggling not to laughing out loud again, but only because Maria was threatening him if he did.**

**"Well, thanks Michael… Maria…" Max said. "I appreciate you're letting Kryys check it out for us."**

**"What you gonna do with it now," Michael asked.**

**Max shrugged. "You can't 'fix' something that you can't find the… find the… you know…"**

**Michael broke down and started to laugh again. "Have you thought about asking Andya?"**

**"Andya? Why Andya?" Max asked.**

**"Well, she's the one who created it, right? Maybe she knows what it is."**

**Max looked at Liz, and Liz nodded. "It's worth checking. Alright, thanks guys. We really appreciate it… especially your help, Kryys."**

**Kryys smiled. **

**Back at the palace, Max and Liz called for Andya, who came running from the VidScreen room.**

**"What is it," Mom?"**

**"We need to know something, honey. When you made Harold, did you make him a boy or a girl?"**

**Andya thought about it a moment then looked embarrassed.**

**"I didn't think about it. I didn't make him either one. I made him like the ones on the VidScreen."**

**"They weren't real," Liz said.**

**"Oh. That must be why they didn't… why they weren't real boys or girls."**

**"Makes sense," Max said. He looked at Liz. "I guess Harold can't have babies then. We won't have to worry about the palace being overrun by little tribbles."**

**"It looks that way," Liz agreed. **

**"Is that okay, Mom?"**

**"That's more than okay, Andya. That's… perfect!"**

**"So I did alright?"**

**Liz and Max both nodded. "Very alright," Max said, smiling. Liz nodded her agreement.**

**"You can go back to whatever you were doing, dear," Liz said. "Here. Take Harold with you."**

**"Sure Mom." Andya headed off to the VidScreen room with Harold.**

**"Problem solved and everything back to normal then?" Liz asked, looking at Max.**

**"Partly."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**"I'll never be able to face Michael again."**

**tbc**

**Coming next: Maya has a vision of someone in need of help… someone who has already been horribly hurt… and who is in danger of being hurt again and possibly killed… and she believes it is her mother… Liz.**


	54. Rath53

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Visions Of Danger**

**Chapter 53**

**LIII **

**The man sitting on a little platform high up in the tree appeared to be waiting for something. Maya felt uncomfortable. She had been dreaming about playing on the j'koozzeen –the beach- when her dream had taken a strange turn. Suddenly, she was no longer on the j'koozzeen by the Golden Sea. She was somewhere else. There were trees all around… and flowers. It was a pleasant place… actually quite pretty. But there was the man in the tree. He worried Maya. In his hands, there was a long thing that looked like the primitive projectile hurlers that Antarians once used. Some Antarians still had them, though Maya had never seen an Antarian one herself except on the VidScreen.**

**Why would a man climb up in a tree with a projectile hurler? Maya wondered where this place was. The man lifted the ancient weapon to his face and peered through some kind of scope. He must have seen whatever it was he was hunting. Maya turned to see what that might be. She didn't see any animals… only a woman pushing a wheelchair with a younger woman in it. Maya couldn't see her face. **

**"The man in the tree will have to wait now," Maya thought to herself. "The lady pushing the wheelchair probably scared his prey away." Maya looked back at the man in the tree. He was preparing to fire his weapon. Maya looked again at the woman pushing the wheelchair, and her mind registered alarm. "Is he planning to…?"**

**Suddenly, there was a deafening sound, as a shot was fired. Maya saw the young woman jerk back then fall from the wheelchair, bleeding from the head. The older woman ran hysterically, screaming for help. Maya's breathing quickened, and her heart raced in sheer panic. She tried to look at the face of the younger woman who had just been killed, but the vision began to vanish. In its place, Maya saw a man start a chainsaw and begin to cut through the trunk of the tree. In a few moments, the tree came crashing to the ground, bringing with it the man with the projectile hurler. Maya watched as the man with the chainsaw stuck the end of his own projectile hurler against the nose of the man in the tree. She turned again to look at the young woman who had been killed… only now the young woman had not been killed. She was alive, and the older woman was still pushing her in the chair. Almost as though she somehow sensed Maya's presence, the young woman turned and looked in Maya's direction.**

**Liz and Max heard the scream at the same time. Both jumped out of the bed and ran to Maya's room.**

**"Maya? Maya! What's wrong, honey," Liz asked, flipping on the lights. Maya wiped the sleep out of her eyes and grabbed her mother, sobbing inconsolably.**

**"What happened, honey," Max asked softly, running his hand over Maya's back protectively. "Did something hurt you?"**

**Maya shook her head. "Something hurt Mommy," she said, her voice breaking, as she began to sob again.**

**"I'm here, Maya!" Liz said soothingly. See? Nothing happened to me. I'm okay! You must have had a bad dream."**

**Maya sniffed and wiped the tears off her cheeks and out of her eyes.**

**"Mommy, some man hurt you. And… and you couldn't walk. Another lady was pushing you in a chair with wheels…"**

**"A wheelchair?" Liz looked at Max. "Are there any wheelchairs on Antar, Max? I don't think there are."**

**Max shook his head. "Wheelchairs haven't been used on Antar for over ten thousand years. Spinal injuries are curable."**

**"Where would Maya have seen a wheelchair," Liz asked, stroking Maya's hair as she held her close to comfort her.**

**"I don't know. Do you think she could have been sensing something that happened to one of the 'Antarians Too'… on Earth?"**

**"Do you think so," Liz asked, repeating Max's question.**

**Max shrugged.**

**Maya wiped her eyes as she began to calm down a bit and her pulse returned to closer to its normal rate. "No, Mommy. It wasn't one of them. It was you. A man with one of those things you call a gun threw a bullet at you and hit you in the head." Maya sniffed and wiped her cheek again.**

**"Shot me? Who would have done that," Liz asked.**

**"I don't know," Maya replied. "Another woman was pushing you in the chair, and a man in a tree killed you."**

**Max looked concerned. "Maya could be seeing the future, Liz."**

**"Maybe," Liz said. "It can't be the past. That never happened before."**

**"Well, there's nothing to worry about now, Maya," Max said. "Your mama is fine. I'll protect her. If you're seeing something from the future, we'll be very careful to make sure that it doesn't ever happen. Okay?"**

**Maya nodded and sniffed again.**

**"Will you be okay now if we go back to bed," Liz asked.**

**Maya nodded and kissed her mother on the cheek. Liz returned the kiss then tucked Maya back in and closed her door.**

**"What do you think that was all about, Max?"**

**"It could be the future… or it could have just been a bad dream… like you said."**

**"I guess. Maya's never had premonitions before. She just sees things that happen to others sometimes when they're happening."**

**"Maybe she's developing a new thing… like a new power," Max said. "You have premonitions. Maybe now Maya does, too."**

**"Well, unless we're planning on going back to Earth anytime soon, I don't see this dream coming true, Max."**

**Max nodded. "You're right. Let's go back to bed."**

**                                   ************

**Max woke up early and rolled over. Liz was already up. Walking out to the kitchen, Max found Liz sitting at the table writing in her diary. A cup of coffee sat steaming in front of her.**

**"Oh, you're up," Liz said smiling. Max kissed her and sat down at the table.**

**"I've got some blue hen eggs out. You want them scrambled or in a taco?"**

**"I don't know… You decide. On second thought, the egg taco sounds kind of good… with a little Tabasco on the eggs."**

**"Of course."**

**"What are you writing about?"**

**"I was just updating my diary. The last time I wrote in it was when we went diving in the Golden Sea and Alex and Isabel came with us and helped us watch the kids."**

**"Well, that wasn't so long ago, Liz. Did you put something in there about Harold?"**

**Liz looked at Max and smiled. "Of course. You don't think I could forget that…"**

**Max smiled.**

**"Michael and Maria are going to join us for lunch today at the CrashDown, Max. Is that okay?"**

**"Sure. We haven't been in there for a couple of weeks at least. Sounds good."**

**"They're bringing Dan and Diane with them."**

**"Klein? Are they back?"**

**"Yeah. They came back several days ago. Dan likes to go yorith riding with Jim, and Diane needs some things from Kyyk's."**

**"That's the first thing Diane always does when they come back after spending several weeks on Earth… She runs out to shop." Max chuckled.**

**"It's a girl thing," Liz said. "You wouldn't understand. I heard they're opening a new showroom over on the south end… some Garengian owns it. He's going to be selling the newest hover cars and bikes from forty different planets."**

**Max perked up. "Maybe we could drop by there later today and look!"**

**Liz grinned and nodded. "I thought so. Must be a guy thing."**

**As Liz spoke, Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa walked into the kitchen together.**

**"What would you girls like? I've got blue hen eggs. There are a few golden eggs left, too, I think… and the pashita bread is baking."**

**"That sounds fine, Mom," Maya said. "Scrambled."**

**"Same for me," Andya said.**

**"Can I boil a couple of golden eggs, Mom," JoLeesa asked.**

**"Sit down, I'll get them when I get the others," Liz said.**

**Alyyx walked in at about that time and sat down at the table, too.**

**"What'll you have, Alyyx," Liz asked. "Blue eggs or golden?"**

**"I think there were some jaht-roo cookies and japo left over, Mom. I'll have that."**

**"For breakfast? That's dessert, Alyyx."**

**"What's wrong with dessert for breakfast?"**

**"I'll scramble you some blue hen eggs."**

**"Aw, Mom." Alyyx looked at Max. "Whatever."**

**"Is Jeffy still asleep, Mom," Maya asked.**

**"Yes. But I'm sure he'll wake up soon wanting his breakfast."**

**Maya grinned.**

**"By the way, Maya, did you have any more dreams last night," Max asked, as Liz poured him some coffee.**

**"No. Just that one. But it was so real, Dad! I can't explain it."**

**"What did you dream," Andya asked.**

**"Well, I was dreaming about us being at the j'koozzeen and suddenly it was like I was somewhere else. There was a man in a tree with one of those things they call a gun on Earth, and he killed Mom."**

**"What? Where was this?"**

**"On Earth, I think."**

**"Eluymer?" Alyyx asked questioningly.**

**"Duh," Andya replied, as Maya continued.**

**"Mom was sitting in a chair that had two big wheels and two little wheels on it, and another woman was pushing it."**

**"It's called a 'wheelchair,' Maya," Max said. "On Earth, they use them when someone can't walk."**

**"Why wouldn't they be able to walk, Dad," JoLeesa asked.**

**"They don't know everything we know about fixing injuries, Leese. On Earth, they can't always fix legs or spines when they're hurt bad."**

**"Oh. So people have to ride in a… 'wheelchair?'"**

**"Sometimes."**

**"Who was the woman pushing Mama," JoLeesa asked Maya.**

**"I don't know. I didn't know her. But the man in the tree was waiting for them to come, and he killed Mom with his gun. Then the dream changed, and I saw a man that looked like Uncle Jim cutting down the tree the bad man was in. When the tree fell, the man that looked like Uncle Jim chased the bad man away. Then the woman in the 'wheelchair' looked at me, and I saw that it was Mom."**

**"Maybe it was just someone who looked like Mom, Andya said.**

**Maya shook her head. "No. It was Mom… only… she looked younger."**

**"You didn't tell us that before, Maya," Max said. "How much younger?"**

**"I don't know… maybe like she was a teenager."**

**"Well, that couldn't be Mom," Alyyx said.**

**"I heard that, Alyyx," Liz yelled back from the preparation area.**

**"I didn't mean anything, Mom," Alyyx said, as the others looked at him, putting him on the spot. "I just meant you're not a teenager."**

**Liz laughed. "Well, I'm glad I'm not. Your Dad and I have what we always wanted now. When we were teenagers, we were always having to worry about the Special Unit agents chasing us or someone else finding out about your Dad being an 'alien' (Liz said this word dramatically). We weren't sure we would ever have a real life together. We worried about our parents… even our friends. There were people in the FBI's Special Unit and in the army who wanted to kill us."**

**"Or worse," Max said, sipping his coffee.**

**"Why?" JoLeesa asked.**

**"The same reason they tried to kill us when we were in the mountains," Max said. They don't understand us… so they're afraid of us."**

**"That's stupid," Alyyx said. "We're people just like they are."**

**"They don't understand that, Alyyx," Max said. "That's the problem."**

**"That's why they were chasing Mom… in my dream," Maya said.**

**"How do you know," Max asked.**

**"I felt it. The man in the tree… He was afraid of Mom."**

**"Oh! Some big brave man… afraid of Mom!" Alyyx exclaimed.**

**"Well, he was…" Maya said. "I'm not sure why, but he was scared of Mom. And he was scared of Dad and Uncle Michael especially."**

**"Did he shoot them, too," Alyyx asked.**

**Maya thought for several moments. "I think he did… but… now he's afraid of them."**

**"Well, if he killed them, why is he still afraid of them?"**

**"I don't think he killed them," Maya said. "I think he just tried to."**

**"Did they get away," Andya asked. **

**"I can't tell…" Maya replied. "I just feel like they're in a lot of danger."**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Maya has another vision, and the group begins to piece together the clues to determine the most likely source of the visions, convinced now that they may not have been dreams after all. And Dan and Diane meet Harold.**


	55. Rath54

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Yoriths And Harold**

**Chapter 54**

**LIV **

**Jim pulled back on the reins, bringing his yorith to a stop at the edge of the Starkeen River. As the yorith bent its neck over to drink from the pure waters of the river, Jim slid off and patted his steed on the side. It was a beautiful animal… very much like a horse in many ways. Clearly, it was a "horse" of a type… but the "type" was like none Jim had ever seen on Earth. This yorith had large, vivid emerald-colored eyes. The sides and head were pure white with light traces of zebra-like stripes, though these were not as prominent as those of a zebra. The tail and mane were jet black and shone with a deep, rich luster. On top of the head, there was a pointed, knob-like protrusion that made the animal look somewhat like a unicorn. Jim was uncertain what the knob actually was. In structure, it was unlike any horn he had ever seen, yet there was nothing else to compare it to. Jim suspected that it served an active function for the animal in some way. He theorized that it could contain a guidance system like dolphins are known to possess in their heads… or that it could serve some other totally unknown purpose. He was certain that it served some functional purpose, though.**

**Dan and Diane slid off their yoriths and walked them over to the edge of the river, and their guest followed suit. Diane's yorith was a light lime green color, and the mane and tail were deep forest green. The large eyes were a brilliant blue-green. This animal had no trace of the stripes that Jim's yorith had, but it did have the same horn-like knob on top of the head.**

**Dan's yorith was a light but vivid translucent blue color with light golden flecks all over the body. The mane and tail were rich golden-colored, as were the eyes.**

**The yorith that their guest rode was jet black. It's tail and mane, however, were a lustrous ruby red with golden highlights. Its large eyes were golden. And like all the other yoriths, it had a small unicorn-like protrusion on top of its head.**

**The guest slid off his yorith and patted it on the side, smiling appreciatively.**

**"I really wish I could take some of these beautiful animals back to my ranch. I've never seen anything like them! You don't think you could spare a few do you, Jim?"**

**Dan grinned. "That would be a bit hard to explain, sir. PETA would accuse you of spray painting your horses and putting eye makeup on them."**

**The guest nodded… "and gluing a horn on their heads… Yeah, I know. They would be pretty hard to explain… but damn, these are some mighty fine-looking horses, Dan!"**

**"I can't disagree with you there, sir," Dan said.**

**"They're strong and sure-footed, too," the guest noted.**

**Jim nodded appreciatively. "I've taken these guys into the hilliest, roughest areas, and they've never missed a beat. They almost seem to walk on air. Sometimes I think they do," he added with a laugh.**

**"Well, if you ever want to send a few of them back to Earth, Jim," the guest said, "let me have first dibs. I'll tell PETA I rescued them from a circus or something. I'll think of something."**

**Dan laughed. "Yeah! Until the press figures out that the paint and makeup aren't wearing off!"**

**The guest smiled. "You're right, Dan. I guess I've got enough things on my plate right now without havin' to explain to the press how I happen to have some alien horses runnin' around on my ranch. My rivals would have me pegged as an alien. I can see it now… some old guy in a condo down in Palm Beach sayin,' "Well, Lucille, that explains it! 'e was a damned alien!"**

**Dan and Jim both laughed. Diane grinned and made an effort to refrain from laughing, but the more she thought about it, the more she grinned. Then she started to laugh, too.**

**"Let's mount up and head back to the ranch," Jim said. "We're meeting the king and queen, Max and Liz, and his General, Michael Guerin and his wife, Maria, for dinner at the palace."**

**"King," the guest said to himself, nodding. "Has a nice ring to it!"**

**"It won't fly, sir," Dan said. "Earth isn't ready for… that." The guest grinned and mounted his yorith. **

**"He was kidding," Diane said to Dan, shaking her head with a smile.**

**"Are you sure," Dan asked with a totally straight face. Diane looked at Dan momentarily, as her smile wavered, then Dan grinned and winked at her.**

**                                       ************

**The guests were led into the large front reception area of the palace, where Liz and Max met them with Michael and Maria, who had arrived ten minutes before. Liz and Maria gave Diane and Dan a quick hug, as Max and Michael welcomed Dan's "boss." Then Liz and Maria welcomed the guest and Max and Michael welcomed Dan and Diane back again. Dan and Diane's returning to Antar was not at all an unusual occurrence. They came and went with some regularity, since Liz gave Diane the use of the sphere of the portal before she and Dan were married. It was the sphere that resulted in Dan's "boss" learning about Antar. When Diane was planning their wedding, she used the sphere to pop into Dan's D.C. office from Antar. Dan almost never had visitors, and it simply did not occur to Diane to check this time to see if he was alone or not before she popped in. It was an eye-opener for Dan's "boss," who happened to be there, and it took a lot of explaining by Dan, but the secret was kept.**

**Max motioned to the three oversized Antarian easy chairs and two oversized Antarian sofas. **

**"Have a seat wherever you'd like. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour."**

**Dan and Diane sat down on one of the sofas, and their guest chose one of the large easy chairs. Max and Liz sat together on the other sofa with Michael and Maria. A maid brought before-dinner drinks and a tray of light jaht-roo cookies and placed the cookies on a table between the seats then poured each person a small glass of jubish.**

**"Nice place," the guest said, admiring the architecture and spaciousness of the palace. "It looks old."**

**"It is," Max said. "The palace was built 1,687 years ago during the reign of King Starma, my great, great, great… well, you get the idea." Max smiled slightly.**

**"Amazing!"**

**"After Kivar killed me," Max continued… "I mean, after he killed my ancestor, he took over the palace and changed some things, but we were able to return it to its former appearance after I returned and took back the throne."**

**"So you had to fight for your throne," the guest said.**

**Max nodded. **

**"Max and Liz and Michael and Maria, grew up on Earth," Dan said. "Max and Michael returned here and retook the throne from Kivar, who was a despot. Max's real name is Zan, and Michael's is Rath, but among us, they're Max and Michael."**

**"Yeah, I think you told me something about them being from Earth before," the guest said. "I think it was when you and Diane were planning your wedding… or was it at the wedding? No matter, I remember you mentioning something about it."**

**Dan smiled and nodded. **

**Maya, JoLeesa, Andya, and Alyyx walked into the room together at that moment and sat down politely on a smaller sofa beside their parents. Liz introduced them, and the guest shook their hands. As he did, he noticed Harold peeking around the corner. Dan noticed the look on his guest's face, and apparently, Michael noticed it, too, because Michael immediately said,**

**"Oh, it's not a rat. I thought that, myself, when I saw it."**

**"Oh, thanks a lot for explaining that," Liz said. Then turning to the guest, she added, "There aren't any rats in the palace. I don't think there are even any on Antar. Michael just meant that he thought it looked like… well… it was little and fuzzy…" Liz started to turn red.**

**"Harold, come here," Max called. "We'll give you a cookie. Harold loves cookies."**

**Dan, Diane, and the guest watched as Harold made his way shyly across the room and took the cookie from Max's hand. It was impossible to tell how he took it. He had no arms, and his face was covered with hair. But the cookie did disappear somewhere underneath all the hair.**

**"What is it," Dan asked.**

**The guest looked at Dan as though he had asked a dumb question.**

**"It's a tribble, Dan. Haven't you ever seen a tribble?"**

**Dan shook his head. "What's a tribble?"**

**"I've heard of tribbles," Diane said. "But I don't remember where."**

**"Star Trek," the guest said. "Kirk had to get rid of them after they made so many babies that they filled up the Enterprise."**

**"You know what scares me, sir?" Dan said.**

**His guest shook his head.**

**"That you actually know that."**

**"Well, I had a past life, Dan. I didn't develop amnesia when I moved in at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! You should watch a little TV sometime. There's more to life than just files and briefs."**

**"Yeah," Dan said. "There's tribbles." **

**Diane picked Harold up and stroked him on the back and tummy, and Harold began to make a purring sound.**

**"He's cute," Diane said.**

**"How can you tell," Dan asked. "All I see is a hank of hair!"**

**"Don't listen to him," Diane whispered to Harold. "He's just jealous 'cause you've got more hair than he does."**

**Michael snorted quietly and smiled.**

**"I like my hair short," Dan said. "I've got all the hair I need. You don't see any bald spots!"**

**Diane grinned. "I know. But Harold does have beautiful hair, don't you Harold?"**

**Dan looked at his guest, and both of them smiled.**

**"Max, where in the world did you get this thing," Dan asked.**

**Max pointed at Andya. "You want to tell him, Andya?"**

**"I made him for Jeffy. Harold was my present to Jeffy."**

**Diane looked lost. "Jeffy?"**

**"Oh! Diane, you have been away haven't you!"**

**"Well, for a few weeks… Who's Jeffy?"**

**"Maya, would you?" Liz asked. Maya smiled and ran from the room. She returned with Jeffy cradled in her arms. Diane gasped.**

**"Omigod! Liz! Omigod, he's beautiful! But… how? Liz, We were only away a few weeks. Even Antarians don't work that fast, and you're not Antarian."**

**"Well, actually, she is," Max corrected. "Partly."**

**"Yeah, but still… a few weeks? Come on, Liz! What is going on?"**

**Liz smiled. "It's a long story, Diane. The short answer is that time got thrown off, and Max and I had a baby…" She looked at Jeffy. "…in another timeline. When the timeline got fixed, here he was. Well, not really. Actually, Kryys had to go find him for us and get him into this timeline. It's all pretty complicated."**

**"And I want to hear it all," Diane said. "Don't leave out a thing! Not one word! When you have time."**

**Liz nodded and looked at their guest, who had taken Harold and was petting him.**

**"He likes you," Diane said. "He's purring."**

**"Well, I like him."**

**Dan shook his head.**

**"You know what we need, Dan? We need a tribble in the White House. Uh, it is neutered, isn't it?"**

**"It's neither a girl nor a boy," Max said. "Andya reproduced it as neither one."**

**"Sir," Dan said. "What do you think the press would do with that story if they got a hold of it?"**

**"I know, Dan! Just imagine for a moment, will you! Suspend that reality-locked mind of yours for a moment and just imagine what could be… He's the perfect pet! All he does is scoot around and polish the floor all day long… and eat cookies."**

**"Yeah… I see your point."**

**"Too bad, little fellow, Earth isn't ready for you yet," the guest said, as he set Harold down on the floor and handed him another cookie.**

**"Oh, now you've made a life-long friend," Liz laughed.**

**"There you go, Dan! See how simple life can be? A cookie and someone to rub your tummy and you purr all day long."**

**"Oh, sir, don't get me started."**

**"I like to annoy Dan," the guest said to Liz and Max with a wink. "He doesn't know how to see things with a different perspective… separate himself from the cold realities sometimes. But he's a good Head of Alien Affairs. He's a hard worker, and he's perfect for the job I placed him in. I couldn't have asked for a better man!"**

**Max and Liz both nodded. "We think so, too."**

**"I owe Dan a lot," the guest added. "He's brought that agency and our country into a new era… a new era of awareness. Unfortunately, he's right about one thing, though. The country… the world for that matter… isn't ready yet for everything. They wouldn't be able to handle things they don't understand. We have to take one step at a time. Abolishing the Special Unit and cleaning out the secret, deeply-buried agencies that lived and breathed paranoia about everything alien, though, has been a good start. If Dan never does anything else but that, he will have already done the world a great service."**

**"Amen to that," Liz said. Max, Michael, and Maria all nodded enthusiastically.**

**Maria was the first to notice Maya. Maya had been seated, but she was standing now, with a far-away look in her eyes and tears streaming down her face.**

**"Maya?" Maria said, jumping up to put her arm around her. Liz immediately ran to Maya's side and put her arm around her, too. "What's the matter, Maya? What is it?"**

**"Somebody still wants to hurt you, Mommy… and Daddy, too. Somebody on Earth. I saw Daddy in a box, and he looked hurt."**

**The guest looked at Dan questioningly.**

**"Maya has the ability to communicate with some people and see some things in other places," Dan said. "It's possible she's seeing something happening on Earth."**

**Daddy was in a box that was in the air, and Uncle Kyle pulled the ropes loose and the box fell. Then Daddy fell out, and… and he was hurt… or dead. And Daddy and Uncle Kyle were very young… like teenagers."**

**Liz looked at Max. "Maya's seeing something, Max."**

**Max shook his head. "I know. But this is something that never happened before. How could it have happened if we were young but it never happened to us then?"**

**"You know, Max," Dan said. "I probably am pretty reality-based, but I've seen a lot of things since I met Diane that I never would have thought possible before I met her. Logically, if Maya sees something happening to you when you're young, and it never happened to you, she must be seeing it happen in some other time or… or dimension or something."**

**Max thought about this for a few moments. "Okay, I'll buy that, but where? How? What does it have to do with us here? Why is she seeing it?"**

**"She saw me in a wheelchair a few nights ago," Liz said, "and she said that I was in danger. Now she sees you in a box… a coffin?"**

**"It sounds to me," Maria said, "like someone, somewhere, needs help, and they are tied to you… or tied to all of us… in some way… maybe because they are us… in a different time or dimension or something. If the girl in the wheelchair is you, and she has your powers, she might be able to communicate with Maya… without even knowing she's doing it. And if the guy in the box is Max, then Maya might be able to see that, too."**

**"But where are they," Liz said. "How would we ever find them to help them. And should we even help them? We've already seen what can happen when time is messed with."**

**"Maybe it's not time," Michael said. "Maybe it's like a different dimension. There are others, you know. If it is, then what happens to them could have consequences for us here. We don't know what the consequences might be. But if we died there, we might even cease to exist in our dimension here."**

**"I didn't know dimensions were inter-connected," Liz said. "I didn't even know they were real."**

**"I'm not sure that they are," Michael said, "It just makes sense to me that if any of us is killed in another dimension, if that's what it is, that can't be a good thing. It would almost have to have some kind of consequence for us."**

**"And that would be why Maya sees it," Liz said. "If it poses a danger to us here in some way… that would make sense."**

**"So what can we do about it," Maria asked.**

**"We need to make an effort to find out where this is happening and keep an eye on the situation," Michael said. As a military man and the number one "Defender of the Realm," Michael tended to take a preemptive view of most situations involving danger.**

**Max nodded his agreement. "Alright. As of now, we are going to see if we can find the source of these visions Maya is having. When we do, we'll monitor the situation, and if it seems to require our intervention, we will decide how best to react."**

**Everybody nodded.**

**tbc**

**Coming: Jungle Jim returns, and Max and the others zero in on the source of Maya's visions.**


	56. Rath55

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Jungle Jim Tries Again**

**Chapter 55**

**LV **

**"Okay, aim the cameras right over here. I'm going to be standing right here when I open. Then I'll turn and walk into the Nan-Torel… and you guys will follow me with the cameras… into the Nan-Torel… Got that?"**

**The camera crew nodded. **

**"Good," Jim said, noticing that his words sounded a bit déj****à**** vu. **

**"Okay, let's do it," Jim said. "Action, gentlemen! Uh… or whatever…"**

**The cameras came on, and Jim smiled as the crew panned dramatically across the dark Nan-Torel and came to rest on his face, just as the previous crew had done.**

**"Hello, and welcome to the Jungle Jim Show! I promised you that I would return and we would take this trip into the Nan-Torel. The last time, we made a valiant effort, but, well… I guess the Nan-Torel is not for the faint-of-heart."**

**Antarians, already packed around the public viewing screens and living room VidScreens for "Jungle Jim Tries Again," chuckled at Jim's understatement; and the mantra, "They're all gonna get eaten," seemed to still be the popular belief… or at least the statement that was heard the most wherever there was a VidScreen. There was no questioning that the show had not lost any of its popularity despite two previous "failed" attempts… well, failed in Jim's opinion… Antarians considered them the most entertaining thing to come along in recent memory. **

**Jim turned and motioned to his crew, then he walked toward the edge of the Nan-Torel. The crew followed. As Jim had told his audience before, there were no real paths in the Nan-Torel… at least not ones made by human feet. No Antarians ever went into the Nan-Torel voluntarily. Of course, this was not news to Antarians. But there were smaller trails… ones made by… well… no one really knew what. Jim set out with his latest crew, pushing aside undergrowth, bushes, and poison Guma plants. Soon, they came to one of the small trails that lead to mysterious places unknown in the deepest Nan-Torel. Jim followed it, and his crew followed him.**

**Inside the Nan-Torel, the trees and dense jungle-like growth blocked most of the sun's light from reaching the ground. Fortunately, the Antarian cameras and lights being used today had advanced power cores that could run for days without recharging. **

**The camera crew recorded every step Jim took, as they pressed on for the next thirty minutes deeper into the Nan-Torel's dark depths along the strange little trail. About a mile inside the forest-jungle, Jim stopped, as a noise of fluttering wings got his attention. Jim searched the trees. He had heard this same sound the last time he had brought a crew into the Nan-Torel, but that time, they had never seen the creature that had made the sound. This time, Jim glimpsed it, as it fluttered from one dark treetop to a nearby dark treetop. **

**"These are Ama trees," Jim said to the cameras. "As I told you last time, they are a larger relative of the smaller Ama tree that grows outside the Nan-Torel. The leaves of that tree are used to make salads. A smaller, less-poisonous relative of the Guma plant can also be found outside the Nan-Torel, and it is detoxified and eaten in salads, too. The leaves of the giant Ama trees of the Nan-Torel fall densely on the forest floor, and they can be very useful if you should ever happen to spend the night out here. Of course, as I have been amply informed since my last show, nobody on Antar is likely to ever do that… present company excluded, naturally."**

**Around VidScreens everywhere, viewers chuckled and nodded at Jim's second understatement of the day.**

**"The fact is," Jim continued, "when Zan was forced to flee into the Nan-Torel to escape from Kivar's soldiers during the Battle for Antar, he slept under piles of Ama leaves at night, because that**** was the only means he had to protect himself from the bat-like rob-jeta that descend on any unprotected living thing in the Nan-Torel at night like flying meat cleavers. The rob-jeta can devour a shebble –or an Antarian- down to the bones in just three minutes while it sleeps. If you will look up in that far tree, you will see a large nest. Shine the light on it, Gorath. Yeah, there it is! See? That is the nest of a colony of rob-jetas. There may be as many as three thousand in there. The fluttering sound we heard a few minutes ago was a rob-jeta scout moving from one tree to another. It is probably keeping a watch on us, not unlike the way a large bird called a vulture on Eluymer circles and keeps a watch on a wounded animal or being, waiting for it to die. The difference, of course, is that the rob-jeta do not wait for their prey to die. Still, we will be safe from them as long as we do not go to sleep out in the open or are not seriously injured or incapacitated."**

**The camera crew looked at each other, acknowledging Jim's words judiciously. They did not seem overly concerned, however. Jim led the crew further down the small, mysterious trail then stopped again.**

**"You will remember this creature from our last show, I'm sure."**

**Jim bent down and carefully picked up a six-foot-long red snake with a light mint-green belly and an electric blue zigzag pattern on it sides. Above the zigzag pattern, there were small, luminescent greenish spots that glowed brightly in the darkness of the Nan-Torel. **

**"The one we saw last time was almost twice the size of this little guy, but this one still has all the fire power of it's larger relative," Jim said enthusiastically, holding the snake up. "This is an Antarian green-spotted fire snake. Most Antarians believed it to be a myth before seeing the one on our last show." **

**Jim picked up a small branch from the ground and carefully pulled the snake's tail with the branch until the tip of the tail touched the snake's head. As soon as it did, the entire snake lit up brightly like an atom bomb that had just exploded. Then the snake threw a roaring sheet of flames high into the air. The camera crew backed up and looked around cautiously but did not seem intimidated by the sight of the fire snake or its unusual display.**

**"I explained last time that the flames the fire snake shoots out are its way of defending itself. In the Nan-Torel every creature must have some means of defense to survive. Few other creatures will mess with a fire snake. Now, some people have wondered why it is that the fire snake, here in all this dense jungle growth with trees and leaves and bushes everywhere, doesn't set the Nan-Torel on fire with its defense mechanism, and I am going to tell you why. It is because the flames of the fire snake are an illusion. They are not real at all."**

**Jim placed his hand over the fire snake and touched its tail to its head again. Again the fire snake lit up, this time throwing out a sheet of "flames" so intense that it went right through Jim's hand then through his entire body, causing the viewers at home to actually see Jim's skeleton in a sort of X-ray effect… and making it momentarily appear that he had been simply vaporized. Gasps were audible all over Antar; and for the first time, Jim's camera crew appeared to be a little unnerved.**

**Slowly returning to his normal non-transluscent state, and with the radiation-like glow all over his body starting to subside, Jim smiled and carefully laid the snake back down on the trail, where it quickly slithered off again into the underbrush.**

**"Was that amazing or what?" Jim exulted with a huge grin. "You know, the flash of fire that the fire snake gives off is a function of two factors. First, as you have just witnessed, the fire snake gives off a type of radiation in massive bursts. This is non-lethal to humans or Antarians but can be lethal to smaller animals and to some larger animals with susceptible nervous systems. On Eluymer, where I come from, this dosage of radiation would probably have put me in the hospital and might possibly have killed me, but in Antar's atmosphere, the radiation effect is limited. Also, you have ways to readily counteract it here. The "flames" of the fire snake are not based solely on this radiation burst, however. At the same time as the fire snake gives off its flash, it sends out a fairly powerful signal from its brain. This signal enters through the eyes of the predator and causes a kind of mind-altering effect that allows the predator to actually see the radiation flash appear as flames. The flash is real… it just would not be visible, or certainly not as impressive, without the sensory boost from the snakes mind. This snake is truly one of the great wonders of your planet."**

**"I know there are some of you out there who are asking right now, [i]'How is it that Jungle Jim knows so much about these animals and what makes them function?'[/i] And that's a good question. I never brought a fire snake out of the Nan-Torel to study it, it's true. I did bring a dead rob-jeta out once, but most of what I know I have learned from observation and from a most unusual source… one that most of you have not had available to you… my son, Danyy, and his friends, the pawgors. You see, Danyy can talk to animals and ask them things. But since neither Danyy nor I have ever seen many of these animals, Danyy's pawgor friends have described them to him, and he, in turn, has told me about them. Also, Zan has told me of some of the things that he learned from the jah-ee long ago concerning the creatures of the Nan-Torel. There are some very strange creatures in the Nan-Torel!" Jim smiled and leaned in close to the cameras as he said this and added mysteriously, "The pawgor has told us of some that I hope we will see… and of some it might be best if we never see!"**

**This information seemed to worry the camera crew somewhat, and they looked at each other momentarily, but then they seemed to decide that any danger was probably based solely on the more vulnerable nature of these flimsy creatures called Antarians and Hu-Mans and was probably over-rated in their case.**

**Turning to lead the crew down the trail even further, Jim almost tripped over a wiffer. Gorath turned a camera on the armored creature and followed the moving mound of leaves and grass under which it was hiding.**

**Jim brushed off the turtle-like creature for the cameras to get a better view. The head had a pair of stiff combs or ridges that were vaguely reminiscent of a dinosaur's. The tail was armored and had spikes on the sides. In spite of its appearance, though, the wiffer appeared to be quite docile.**

**"The wiffer is harmless," Jim said. The leaves and grass stuck all over its back are its defense. It stays camouflaged." To emphasize the wiffer's docile nature, Jim offered it a piece of fruit from his pocket, and the wiffer took it gently from his hand. Then Jim carefully sat down on the huge turtle-like creature's shell, and it moved along, carrying him for about ten feet on its back before it suddenly decided to go underground again. Using its spiked tail to dig with, the wiffer quickly reburied itself, leaving only a few inches of its camouflaged shell protruding above the ground. **

**Now the camera crew was smiling, and many of the viewers were imagining themselves having a wiffer for a pet or riding on it. That's when they suddenly heard the shriek. It pierced the darkness like a stab going through everyone there. And it was followed by a series of short shrieks from the other side of them. Jim looked at his camera crew, expecting to see their backsides running through the bushes, eyes wide with terror, dragging their cameras and lights behind them or carrying them dangling at their sides, as had happened with the Xarian crew last time. (The Antarian crew had refused to go in the Nan-Torel at all.) To his surprise, the camera crew was still there… every single one of them. Jim smiled.  **

**"Excellent! That was the sound of the wild pawgor and its mate answering him! The wild pawgor is a very dangerous and ferocious animal, and I would not recommend anyone to confront or mess with one ever. But there are ways to defend oneself… mainly by avoiding being attacked in the first place. If you are attacked, there is probably nothing that will save you, so you definitely want to avoid being attacked at all cost. What we have learned from the pawgors themselves is that pawgors prefer to attack anything that runs. In fact, if you run when you see a pawgor, you are making yourself pawgor food. Standing still alone does not guarantee that you will not be attacked, it merely makes it less likely. But if you run you are guaranteeing it will attack. So if you run, you'd better be fast!" Jim laughed. "Since I doubt any of you are as fast as a pawgor, I don't recommend that. There is one thing, though, that can almost eliminate the possibility of an attack one hundred percent, according to our pawgor friends."**

**i"Yeah,"/i Varec said to Amy, as they watched on their VidScreen. i"Stay out of the Nan-Torel!"/i Amy laughed and nodded.**

**"The pawgor," Jim said, "will never attack a creature that bends over and places both arms or forelegs flat on the ground and remains that way until it is gone. I suspect that is a form of surrender or acknowledgement of the pawgor's dominance. In any case, it works I am told. We may have the opportunity to test that here today."**

**The camera crew looked much more concerned when Jim said this. They knew what a pawgor was, and none of them really wanted to challenge one, even with their superior Dragon physiology and strength. It hadn't been enough when Danyy's pawgor had ripped into them on their own planet the first time they and the Antarians had met. Then, the Antarians were rescuing their kidnapped children who had been sold to the Dragons by the Ghor slavers for the Dragons' barbaric New Year's feast of Vyatu-Xi. Later, after the Dragons learned that the Ghors had also enslaved many of their own children and sold them… and after Michael and Max rescued their children along with many others, the Dragons became allies of the Antarians.**

**"Let's move on down the trail a bit," Jim said, walking off, following the mysterious little trail deeper into the Nan-Torel's depths. The Dragon crew followed along behind him with the cameras and lights. After a few minutes, Jim stopped and turned to the cameras, placing his finger over his mouth to indicate quietness. Nobody spoke. Momentarily, a small creature flew into view. It looked like a large dragonfly at first, perhaps eight inches long. The wings made it look quite pretty, and the body was vaguely human-like, not in a pretty way, but human-looking nonetheless. As the creature spotted Jim and the others, it stopped in mid-air and backed up. Then it flew around them, examining each one.**

**"Do not touch it," Jim said, warning the Dragons. He didn't have to tell them. They remembered Ee-l'wee, the little Aklatian fairy. Ee-l'wee had been much prettier than this creature and quite obviously much more evolved. Ee-l'wee was highly intelligent and highly civilized. This creature was clearly not as evolved or particularly intelligent. By comparison, it was more like a chimpanzee to a human. But it was beautiful all the same. The wings were especially lovely.**

**"Some of you," Jim explained to the cameras, "may remember Ee-l'wee, the little Aklatian fairy. Ee-l'wee was able to give off a powerful shock that could burn out many creatures. In fact, she stopped two of Hosk the Ghor's hearts when he tried to capture and enslave her. This little creature, which I call a 'Nan-Torel fairy,' is not civilized like Ee-l'wee. It's also not really intelligent in our definition of intelligence, but she is not at all defenseless. She packs the same electric wallop that Ee-l'wee did; and in some primitive way, it is tempting to believe that she, though native to the Nan-Torel here on Antar, is a sort of primitive Aklatian fairy."**

**As Jim said this, a portion of a tree nearby seemed to detach from the trunk. Then it sprung at the little flying creature. As it's body came within two feet of her, an electric charge so powerful erupted from the little fairy-like creature that the tree trunk attacker was burned to a crisp and fell smoking to the ground. **

**"That," Jim said, "was a brown bark snake. It attaches to the side of a tree and looks like part of the tree. When its prey comes along, it detaches and springs on it." **

**Jim picked up the still-smoking reptile. "This one will no longer be attacking Nan-Torel fairies… or anything else it would appear. It's quite dead."**

**As Jim looked back at the little fairy, the creature suddenly darted off. Jim looked around to see what had frightened her away, and not twenty feet from him stood a full-grown male pawgor, almost twice the size of a Siberian tiger. Jim froze in his tracks. Carefully, he glanced back at his camera crew. It seemed they had been listening. Every one of them was bent over, arms flat on the ground. **

**The pawgor looked at Jim and let out a threatening, bone-chilling shriek. Seeing that his crew was apparently taking his advice, Jim took his own advice and bent over, placing his arms flat on the ground. He had to drop to his knees to get both arms, not just his hands, on the ground. As they all remained perfectly still like this, the pawgor walked around them, making an unusual rumbling mewing sound. Jim wasn't sure what it meant. Gorath felt a cold nose sniffing his backside, as the large saber-toothed cat passed behind him. He grimaced and vowed to demand more money when they got back to civilization. The pawgor walked on around the group, sniffing each backside in turn, nudging Sharno so hard that it momentarily lifted him off the ground with its nose. It seemed less interested in Jim, giving him only a passing sniff. Then the huge cat walked away, apparently uninterested in anything it had seen. After a few minutes, Jim decided it was safe to get up, and he struggled to his feet. After having been on his knees with his arms flat on the ground for the last ten or fifteen minutes, he found it a bit difficult to just stand up. The Dragons got back up, too. **

**"Jim," Sharno said, "Dragons don't normally wear clothes like Antarians do, except for a vest on celebratory occasions, but if you want me to come back into this jungle with you again, you're going to have to have the Antarian tailors make me some pants!" Gorath, Kharsom, and Danjat mumbled their agreement.**

**Jim nodded. "I'll see what I can do."**

**                                       ************

**That evening, at his ranch, Jim was being congratulated by a group of friends and family for finally completing a whole show without his crew running away.**

**"That was an amazing show," Kyle's wife, Jeliya, said. "I really learn a lot from your show, Jim!"**

**"Thanks, Jilly," Jim said. "I guess it went pretty good… except for that part where the pawgor showed up."**

**"Oh, that was the best part," Kyle laughed. "I loved that! But I admit, I was a little worried about you there for a while."**

**Jim shrugged. "Well, Danyy never told me that bending over with the front legs on the ground is a mating offer to the male pawgor."**

**Kyle was laughing so hard that he had to wipe tears from his eyes.**

**"Don't laugh, Kyle," Jim said. It kept us all alive!"  
  
**

**"Dad, did you ever think that maybe some of us would rather get eaten than the possible alternative here?"**

**"Oh, I don't think the pawgor is interested in non pawgors. It just sniffed us and left."**

**"Yeah, well, you aren't a Dragon, Dad. You had pants on."**

**Jeliya smiled and began to giggle, and Michael grinned and slapped Kyle's hand… "If you ask me," Michael said, "I'd want body armor from the waist down… maybe something like knights used to wear, before I'd take a chance like that. My body belongs to Maria."**

**"Yeah, yeah! Laugh it up you guys," Jim said. "But I'm the one with the top-rated TV show."**

**"Yeah, let's hear it for Jungle Jim!" Max said, raising his glass.**

**Everyone raised their glasses and toasted to the success of Jungle Jim, the Pawgor's Friend.**

**tbc**

**Coming: Max and the others zero in on the source of Maya's visions, and they make a decision.  **


	57. Rath56

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**E.T. Call Home**

**Chapter 56**

**LVI **

**The young AVMTech at the Antar Space Field outside CoruzAntar knocked anxiously on the door of his supervisor's office. **

**"Enter! The door's open!"**

**"Sir! We are receiving a transmission from a ship that was lost seventy years ago. We have video and audio from the vessel."**

**The supervisor looked up, obviously interested. "Where is it? Do we know which vessel it is?"**

**"Yes, sir. A70932. It was lost 70 years ago on Eluymer, the planet Zan and Rath grew up on. It was one of the original ships sent there… part of the scouting mission sent to find a secure site for the pods and the granolith. After the primary ship crashed, two ships returned, and a fourth disappeared."**

**"Yes, I remember. It was always believed that it stayed on Eluymer, or 'Earth' as the Eluymerians call it, to try to rescue the crew of the crashed vessel and help to secure the… cargo. I guess we can say it now, the pods. It's no longer a secret… Kivar is only a bad memory now. No one from that ship ever returned, and they never contacted the home base again. After twenty years, it was all but taken for granted that the entire crew was lost due to some unknown tragedy."**

**"Yes, sir. Well, the E.T. came back on unexpectedly this morning. You will want to see the video and audio that have been intercepted from the ship since the telemetry began arriving again."**

**"Do you have it with you, Dak?"**

**"Yes, sir!" The young tech took a small crystal from his pocket and inserted it into a device on the supervisor's desk. A screen on the opposite wall came on. As they watched, the vessel's onboard camera, called an Emergency Telemetry Monitor, or E.T. for short, suddenly came to life; then, a second later, the door to the control room opened and someone walked in. It was a woman.**

**"Sir, I know this woman," the young tech said. "It's Varec's wife."**

**"The Eluymerian?" The supervisor seemed surprised. "Hmmm… yes, it does look like her… but this woman is younger than Varec's wife. And besides, I saw Varec and his wife only yesterday here in CoruzAntar. They were on their way to that Eluymerian 'Café,' the 'CrashDown,' to eat."**

**"It's a good restaurant, sir."**

**The supervisor nodded. "It's very popular with the younger people. I know older ones who like it, too, though. Dak, did you say that this signal just began coming in this morning?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Hmmm."**

**As they watched, the young woman looked up suddenly and stared directly into the tiny camera, which was no bigger than a small sunflower seed. The E.T. was attached magnetically to a wire-thin but unbendable bar that ran across the ceiling of the craft. The young woman reached up and removed the tiny camera from the bar… then, after examining it, she appeared to attach it to herself in some manner.**

**"I believe she has attached it to a ring on her finger, sir," the young tech said. The supervisor nodded.**

**For a time, the young woman sat in the pilot's seat, thinking… and occasionally looking around at the console and systems monitors. Then she appeared to be about to leave, but as she stood up, she stopped again suddenly.**

**"Why did she stop," the supervisor asked.**

**"You'll see in just a moment, sir. Here it is now."**

**The young woman moved her hand, and the two men saw that six armed soldiers were pointing weapons at her. The supervisor gasped.**

**"Eluymerian soldiers! …in charge of our craft! Where is our crew? Who is this woman?"**

**The young tech shook his head. "Not certain, sir. She does look very much like Varec's wife to me, though, sir. It is possible, given the evidence seen here, that the Eluymerians also have our crew. If that is the case, I would not be overly optimistic about their survival after seventy years, sir."**

**The supervisor shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dak."**

**As Dak and his supervisor watched, the young woman made an oddly nonchalant remark; by all appearances, seeming to take the danger she was in much too lightly…**

**i"I must have taken a wrong turn off of 285. Imagine that! I'll just be on my way if you gentlemen will move aside."/i**

**The supervisor looked at Dak questioningly. "What is 285, Dak?" **

**"I don't know, sir. By their reaction, I believe that she is being insincere with them… possibly offering an explanation for why she is there."**

**The supervisor nodded. "Yes, and she believes that they will allow her to leave, but it appears that this is a misconception on her part." **

**At that moment, another soldier, one who appeared to have a higher ranking, showed up and stood between the young woman and the six men with guns. i"General Hawkins wants to see you… Now!"/i**

**The young woman replied in a facetious tone that both the supervisor and Dak understood readily, i"Well, really guys, I don't think the General and I hit it off so well the last time we were together. That was kind of a relationship that just wasn't meant to be, you know what I mean? If you'll just tell the General that for me, I'm sure he'll understand, and…"/i**

**The young soldier with the higher rank stepped out of the way, and the weapons all went to ready.**

**i"Okay, okay. I'm going! But I'm telling you, this is not my idea of a good time. The General needs to find a girl who's more into S&M. I'm more plain vanilla… Okay, maybe raspberry, really, I guess, but…"**

**"Move it!"/i the young soldier with the higher rank said in an annoyed tone. i"And shut up."/i**

**The soldiers forced the young woman to walk a considerable distance down several long halls until they came to an office, which appeared to be their final destination. The one with the higher rank opened the door and they all went in, forcing the young woman to enter ahead of them. The soldiers kept their weapons pointed at the young woman as she went in. Inside, there was a man seated behind a desk. He appeared to be someone of importance as far as the soldiers were concerned. Even the young soldier with the higher rank showed deference to him.**

**i"Mrs. DeLuca,"/i the man behind the desk said, in a very annoyed tone, i"You have done what no one else has ever managed to do in all the years I have been in the military. You have made me look like a complete fool."/i**

**The young woman shrugged. i"It was nothing, sir, really."/i**

**The supervisor looked at Dak and smiled. "I think I like her, Dak. She has sh'mys. She appears not to like this man, and he has an air of pompousness to him that I find distasteful."**

**"Yes, sir," the young Tech said. "I agree, sir."**

**i"Mrs. DeLuca, what am I going to do with you?"/i the pompous-looking man behind the desk asked.**

**i"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"**

**"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."/i**

**The supervisor reached up and stopped the playback momentarily.**

**"Dak… Isn't DeLuca the name of Varec's wife?"**

**"I believe so, sir. She uses two names, like most Eluymerians. Her full unmarried name was Amy DeLuca."**

**"But how can this woman be Varec's wife if this transmission came from Eluymer today, and I saw Varec's wife here only yesterday?"**

**"Maybe she went to Eluymer with the sphere that Zan uses," the young tech said.**

**"Yes, that's possible, I guess," the supervisor agreed. "But still, this woman is years younger than Varec's wife, wouldn't you agree?"**

**"Um, yes, sir. It would appear so, sir. I can't explain it."**

**The supervisor replayed the last two lines of the transmission.**

**i"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"**

**"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."/i**

**"Do you know who this Romeo and Juliet are that she is referring to, Dak… or the Henry the eighth that he is referring to? It could be important."**

**"Yes, sir," the tech said. "Actually, I saw something only a few days ago about them on the Eluymer channel… the virtual link that Varec established to the Eluymerian's cable system. Romeo and Juliet were two young lovers, barely teenagers, who were not allowed to be together. He killed himself because he believed that she had died, but she had not. When she saw that he had killed himself, she killed herself, too."**

**The supervisor seemed perplexed. "Do you think this young woman, DeLuca, intends to kill herself? These people are so strange. I do not always understand them."**

**"I believe… sir… that she is probably referring to her relationship with the pompous one in the chair. She means that he is her Romeo and she is his Juliet… romantically."**

**"You cannot mean that, Dak."**

**"Well… perhaps she was being facetious, sir. I believe she did say that being Romeo and Juliet with him was not her desire, not that it bwas/b her desire."**

**"I'm sure that is what she meant, Dak. It is obvious that she does not like the man. Who is this Henry the eighth that he compared himself to?"**

**"Henry the eighth was a king on Eluymer who had many of his wives executed. Their heads were cut off."**

**"So he is threatening her by comparing himself to this king?"**

**"Yes, I believe so, sir. I believe that is her impression, too, based on her reaction."**

**"Play the rest, Dak."**

**The young tech started the sequence again from where it had left off. **

**i "You wouldn't do anything to me, General. Too many people know where I am,"/i the young woman said.**

**The pompous man shook his head. i"Your car was seen driving off the base about three hours ago. It went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass. That was a drop of about 700 feet, I believe. I understand it was a very fiery crash. The sheriff of Copper City is on the site now, but no remains have been found. The fire was so intense, you know…"/i **

**"Dak, I believe this woman is in danger. Even I understood that to be a threat."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**i"You can't just get rid of me, General…"/i the young woman said.**

**The pompous man smiled and nodded, indicating that he believed that he could. i"Corporal, take Mrs. DeLuca away… and make sure that her departure is permanent."**

**"Permanent, sir?"**

**"Permanent, Corporal. You heard me."/i **

**The young woman held up her ring. i"General, do you know what this is?"**

**"A ring? You think I'm worried about your husband? You don't have one, Mrs. DeLuca. Don't you think I know that? And if you did, it wouldn't matter."/i**

**The young woman detached the tiny E.T. and held it in her hand. i"Not the ring, General, the camera."/i**

**i"Let me see that!"/i the pompous officer said, the smile on his face quickly fading away.**

**The corporal took it from Amy's hand and handed it to the General. He turned it over several times. i"Where did you get this?"**

**"From the TV station,"/i the young woman said, obviously lying. i"Everything going on here is being recorded by all three local networks… and by now probably by CNN and Fox, too."**

**"I don't believe you."**

**"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not."/i**

**The pompous man swallowed, and there was a long pause. **

**i"Corporal!"/i the pompous man said at end.**

**i"Yes, sir!"**

**"Didn't you hear me? Escort Mrs. DeLuca off the base, and make sure that she stays away from here permanently this time. You got that?"**

**"Just off the base, sir?"**

**"Of course, just off the base! What did you think I meant?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Oh, and Mrs. DeLuca… I was trying to make a point with you about how dangerous it can be for a civilian to be running around out here unaccompanied. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."**

**"Of course not,"/i the young woman said. i"What about my car?"**

**"It was damaged, Mrs. DeLuca. It was unsafe to drive… and since it was on the base, it was our obligation to dispose of it in a safe manner. As I told you, it was being towed to a recycling plant, but it broke loose on the pass and went over the side. Fortunately, no one was in it, so there was no one hurt in the accident."**

**"That car was my only means of transportation."/i**

**The pompous man seemed to be making a forced effort to smile. i"I'll see if we can find you a replacement, Mrs. DeLuca. The Army wasn't responsible for what happened to your car, you know. The damage to your car was your own fault. We had to dispose of it responsibly. But I'm sure Washington would not want to make a big deal out of this. I'll get you a new car."**

**"New?"**

**"New,"/i the pompous man muttered. i"Corporal!" **

**"Yes, sir!"/i **

**The General pointed at the door. **

**After the soldiers had taken the young woman away, the General continued to examine the tiny monitor.**

**i"Lieutenant!" **

**"Yes, sir!" **

**"Have you ever seen anything like this?"**

**"Looks like a spy camera, sir."**

**"I know what it looks like, lieutenant. Have you ever seen one like this one?"**

**"Well… not this small, sir. But they're making them smaller every day."**

**"Hmmm, yes, but I'm usually kept abreast of developments that might be useful to me. Lieutenant, how did the DeLuca woman get into the craft?"**

**"The bottom hatch was left open, sir. The crew trying to get into the control room was planning to return later today to try again with a new type of torch."**

**"But the DeLuca woman got into the control room, lieutenant. I want to know how!"**

**"We don't know how, sir. After she came back out, the door closed again."**

**"And it didn't occur to any of you to put something there to jam it or station someone inside the control room while the door was open?"**

**"Uh, no sir. How would someone inside get back out after the door closed?"**

**"I don't know, lieutenant! I don't care! Maybe there's a door handle inside!"**

**"I don't think so, sir."**

**"Lieutenant, we've had this craft in our hangar for sixty years… give or take a few years… and no one, ever, has been able to find so much as a seam or a rivet anywhere on the craft. We can't dismantle it. No one has ever been able to get into the control room. No torch or blaster will melt or penetrate the metal… or whatever the hell it is the thing's made of. It has frustrated every effort we have made to open the control room or dismantle the ship for SIXTY DAMN YEARS! And that woman just goes in and, open-sesame! The door opens for her?"**

**"It seems that way, sir."**

**"Find out why! I want someone watching that woman twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I don't want her to go to the bathroom without someone knowing where she is. You got that?"**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**"Good. I'm surprised she didn't ask you idiots if there was a key and fly the thing away under your noses! Get out of here. Oh, and lieutenant…"**

**"Sir?"**

**"Find out who makes these tiny spycams. I need some. And find out why I wasn't advised of their development. I don't like having local TV networks using equipment that I didn't even know existed."**

**"Yes, sir!"/i**

**The General put the tiny monitor into a desk drawer and closed the drawer. With no light or sound reaching it any more, the little camera cut itself off. The supervisor and Dak both knew that it could come back on at any time, though, if the General should decide to take it out of his drawer again at some future time.**

**"Dak, I think Zan and Rath need to see this. I'm going to take it to them right now. Continue monitoring the transmissions in case the pompous Eluymerian general takes our monitoring device back out of his drawer."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**                                            ************

**At the palace, Max and Liz huddled in front of the VidScreen with Alex and Isabel, as the supervisor from the spaceport watched from behind them. Max turned the VidScreen off and removed the small crystal, then he handed it to the supervisor.**

**"You were right, Kesvyn. This is important."**

**"I thought you would want to know about it immediately, Zan. The fact that an Antarian craft… and possibly Antarian crewmen… are being held by Eluymerian soldiers… Then there is also the danger to the young woman, though it would seem that she was able to talk her way out of being executed… for now at least. Dak and I were thinking that this young woman looks very much like Varec's wife."**

**Max nodded. "It is Varec's wife, Kesvyn."**

**"But I saw her with Varec only yesterday, Zan. They were on their way to the CrashDown."**

**"The young woman in the transmission is Amy DeLuca," Max said. "But not the Amy we know here on Antar. I'm not entirely sure what is going on, Kesvyn. We may be receiving transmissions from the past…"**

**"Or from another dimension…" Alex offered.**

**Max nodded. "We don't have any experience with dimensional theory or travel. We've never proven that alternate dimensions even exist… or that they don't exist, of course. But we have had experience with traveling to the past."**

**"If this was from a past timeline," Alex said, "Amy would remember this happening to her… and she would have mentioned it, don't you think?"**

**Max nodded. "It would seem so, Alex. "What is the difference between a timeline and a dimension anyway?"**

**"A timeline is a branch or alteration of the existing past," Liz said. "It can change, depending on the factors that affect and shape it. But only one timeline can exist at a time. Once a part of a timeline is changed, the entire timeline is changed. It's like going back and killing your grandfather… You would never be born, and the entire timeline would be changed. On the other hand, theoretically, at least, there could be any number of dimensions all existing at the same time, and each dimension could have its own progression of events. Dimensions wouldn't have to be the same. In an alternate dimension, for instance, your dupes from New York might be living here on Antar now, and the Antarian scientists might not have ever created another set… so you might not exist. Or Kivar might still control Antar. There could be any number of possibilities. Max and Tess could be married…"**

**Max threw a pillow playfully at Liz. "Some things were meant to be, Liz, and some things never were. I don't see that happening in any dimension!"**

**"Wasn't Zan married to Ava in the past that Michael went back to," Liz asked. "You know, the older Zan and Ava? Michael said they were quite happy together."**

**"Yeah, they were," Max agreed. "But they were an extension of the past… In that timeline, we were never killed, so we never went to Earth and never met you and Maria… The older me and Rath and Ava were kind of like… us before there was us, you know… or us if there never was an us."**

**"That's true."**

**"Believe me, Liz," Max said. "There's only one girl for me in any dimension."**

**"That remains to be seen, Max. But I like it that you think so." Liz leaned over and kissed Max, which to Max's embarrassment, seemed to have the approval of everyone in the room, judging by the smiles and applause, especially from Alex. **

**"Just wait, Alex. I'll catch you and Isabel all wrapped up together sometime. Payback is coming."**

**Isabel looked at Alex and grinned. **

**"Uh, moving right along here," Alex said…**

**"Well, the question, as I see it," Max said… "is what are we going to do with this information? And there's something else that may possibly be involved here. I don't know if it's related, but Maya has had dreams… or perhaps visions… recently of something unexplainable going on. Maya saw Liz in a wheelchair, and she said that she thought her mother looked younger… like a teenager. She said that she saw someone shoot Liz from a tree, but then Jim Valenti chopped the tree down, and when she looked again, Liz was not shot. Then a couple of days later, Maya saw me in a coffin, and she said I looked younger, too."**

**"It could be related, Max," Liz agreed. "You and I were younger in Maya's visions, and Amy is younger in this transmission…"**

**"But the transmission was sent today," Kesvyn said.**

**"Yeah, Alex nodded, "but if we're picking up some kind of vibes from, like, an alternate dimension or something, maybe we're all still younger there… like Liz said… We wouldn't have to be the same."**

**"That could be," Max agreed. "But then the thought occurs to me that maybe it might be wrong for us to interfere at all in another dimension's… progression… or whatever. You know what I mean?"**

**"What?" Isabel said… "You mean if Liz was going to be killed, you wouldn't want to save her, Max?"**

**"No, I didn't say that, Iz. I'd want to… You know that. I just don't know if I should."**

**"But would you?" Isabel asked.**

**Max looked at Liz and sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'd have to defend Liz in any dimension. I just couldn't NOT protect her, you know?"**

**"But maybe I'm supposed to die in that other dimension, Max," Liz said. "Then you would be changing what was supposed to be."**

**"Well, that's assuming you subscribe to the theory that something is 'supposed' to go a certain way," Max said. "What if it's all random… just what we make it? If I saw you about to be harmed here, Liz, I'd protect you. What's the difference? If it's right for me to intervene in this dimension can it be wrong somewhere else? If I wasn't around and something was going to happen to you and someone from another dimension saved you, I'd be thankful! I wouldn't question what was supposed to be, because I don't believe in destiny."**

**"Like us being together?" Liz asked.**

**"Well, sure, that's… I believe in that," Max said. But that's a destiny that I made… that we made… together. It didn't just happen without our help. We had to put something into it."**

**"That's true," Liz said. "Future Max tried to change our destiny once."**

**"And he screwed it up for all of us," Alex reminded Liz… until Max and Michael fixed it."**

**"But he did it," Max said. "And we did it again… by changing it back. 'Meant to be' and 'Destiny' are real… but they're what we make them. If something works out well, we say that it was meant to be. If it works out badly, we say that it wasn't meant to be. It refers to the 'rightness' of something. But that doesn't make things happen. Only we can affect our destinies.**

**Max looked up to see Kyle standing there.**

**"Max, you've got visitors."**

**"Who is it, Kyle?"**

**"I think you'd better see for yourself."**

**Kyle turned and motioned to someone to come in. Michael and Maria walked through the door… and there were two other people with them. **

**Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel, and the spaceport supervisor, Kesvyn, all stood up as the guests entered. Their mouths were open far enough that they could have been shouting, but no words seemed to come out.**

**"Alex Whitman and Liz… uh… Evans…" Kyle said with a wry grin, obviously loving their reactions… "I want you to meet Alex Whitman and Liz Parker." **

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Max and Liz's "guests," Alex and Liz, are overwhelmed by the palace and Antar and unsure what has happened to them. Max and the others realize that there no longer is a moral argument or question about helping them. The questions now become merely when and how… and what to do with Alex and Liz "junior."**


	58. Rath57

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Alex And Liz In Wonderland**

**Chapter 57**

**LVII **

**Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel, and Spaceport Director, Kesvyn had been watching the transmissions received from the lost Antarian space ship and discussing dimensional theories when Kyle walked in with a broad smile on his face. Max knew instantly that whatever Kyle had to tell them, it was probably going to be interesting, but even he could not have guessed what Kyle was grinning about.**

**"You've got visitors, Max." **

**"Who is it, Kyle?"**

**"I think you'd better see for yourself."**

**Kyle turned and motioned to someone to come in, and Michael and Maria walked through the door followed by two other people. **

**Max stood up, and his mouth opened, but he found himself momentarily at a loss for words. He looked at Liz, who was standing beside him… then at Alex. If Max appeared to be shocked, though, Liz and Alex's reactions were of stunned disbelief. **

**"Alex Whitman and Liz… uh… Evans…" Kyle said with a wry grin, obviously loving the reactions the new arrivals had elicited from his friends… "I want you to meet Alex Whitman and Liz Parker." **

**For several moments, there was only silence. The younger Liz and Alex stared in awe at the walls, the ceilings, the floors, and the decorations of the palace… then they looked at the two people standing in front of them. These people appeared to be a few years older… but there was no doubting who they were. **

**"Oh… Oh! I'm so sorry," Liz Evans said, suddenly realizing that someone needed to say something. "I uh, I guess we must all seem like idiots standing here with our mouths hanging open. It's just that… that…"**

**"Hello," Liz Parker said, extending her hand politely and swallowing. Liz Evans took Liz Parker's hand and shook it… and both smiled.**

**"Something tells me we've got a very interesting evening ahead of us," Liz Evans said. "Why don't you two have a seat and make yourselves… at home. We aren't usually so unsocial. We're just all kind of in shock right now."**

**Liz Parker nodded. "Yeah, I'm right in there with you. Are you… Are you…?"**

**Liz Evans nodded. "Yeah… I guess I'm you. It looks like it anyway… And I presume you would be Alex Whitman," she said, extending her hand to the younger Alex.**

**Still at a loss for words, Alex nodded and took her hand. **

**"I guess this is your, uh… doppelganger, or something," Liz Evans said, indicating the older Alex. "This is his wife, Isabel… and this is my husband, Max… or King Zan, as he insists I call him."**

**Alex looked at Max in surprise. **

**"She's kidding," Max said. **

**Liz giggled. "Well, he is the king… but since I'm married to him, he usually lets me just call him 'Your Majesty,'" she said, giving the younger couple a wink.**

**Realizing that she was trying to break the ice and make them feel more at ease, the younger Alex and Liz seemed to relax a bit, and they smiled.**

**"Should I… uh… call you… King Zan or Your Majesty," Alex asked hesitantly.**

**"Yeah, those will do," Max said with a trace of a smile. Liz slapped him playfully on the arm.**

**"You can call him Max… and you can call me Liz. That's Isabel and Alex over there, as I said before… and this is Kesvyn. Kesvyn's the Director of the Spaceport… and our friend. It appears that you've already met Michael and Maria.**

**"Hi," the younger Alex said, raising his hand. Liz Parker smiled and added a "Hi" of her own.**

**"Sit down," Max said, pointing at a sofa. "That's a royal order."**

**Liz and Alex sat down together on the sofa.**

**"I guess the first thing we… the first thing I need to know," Max said "…is how you got here. The second thing would be where you came from?"**

**"We're not sure," Alex said sincerely. "Liz had these orbs, and we wanted to contact Maria, because she's been missing, and instead of contacting Maria, we wound up here."**

**"Well, actually, we did find Maria," Liz corrected, gesturing toward Michael and Maria. "We were transported to a beach where Maria was… only it wasn't our Maria. I mean, it is Maria but… you know…"**

**Max and Liz Evans both nodded. "The orbs seem to have powers that we still have not discovered," Max said. "We know they can be used for communication… and in some cases, for healing. And now, it appears that you were able to transport yourselves here to Antar with them."**

**"Antar…" Alex repeated, incredulous. Hearing it still made him shake his head in disbelief. "How did we get all the way across the galaxy to some planet with an ocean that looks like… lite beer? And what are you doing here, Max?"**

**"I live here," Max said. "It's my planet."**

**"Well, yeah, I know that," Alex said. "But when we left Earth, you were missing…"**

**"Wait, you said that Maria was missing," Liz said.**

**Alex nodded. "Well, you see, Maria, Michael, Isabel, and Max were shot by these Army sharpshooters. Liz was, too. The Army claimed the sharpshooters were drunk and acting on their own, but we never believed it."**

**"When did this happen," Liz Evans asked.**

**"At graduation," Liz Parker said. **

**Liz Evans put her hand over her mouth and gasped, remembering her own premonitions and the close call she and the others had had at their own graduation. **

**"And the others… Are they…?" **

**"Supposedly dead," Liz Parker answered.**

**"They were dead," Alex insisted. "I was there. I saw them. Well, Isabel and Maria were dead anyway. Michael and Max escaped on Michael's bike. They were shot as they escaped and were found dead at the edge of town where the bike crashed."**

**"Found by the Army or FBI, I assume," the older Alex said.**

**The younger Alex nodded. "There were funerals for all of them, but just the other day, Sheriff Valenti opened the graves and found out that the bodies in the coffins were dummies… made out of latex and paraffin. And Liz had a vision of Maria trying to contact her."**

**"Maria?" Liz repeated, surprised, looking at Maria and Michael. Michael shrugged.**

**"Well," the younger Liz said, "Maria did say something about Isabel needing to help her."**

**"Why didn't Isabel do it herself," Liz Evans asked. "Isabel could have dreamwalked you."**

**"I don't know," Liz Parker replied.**

**"I must have been injured," Isabel said, placing herself in the place of the younger Isabel. "I'm sure that I would have dreamwalked you if I had been able to and if Maria needed help. Do you know where they were when she tried to contact you?"**

**Liz Parker shook her head. "I think they're on the Army base somewhere."**

**Max paled visibly. "I hope not," he said, remembering his own experiences in the White Room.**

**"Alex said you were shot, too, Liz," Isabel said. "I take it, you weren't seriously hurt?" **

**"She was shot in the head and spine," Alex answered for her. "Liz was in a coma for over four months. No one knew if she would survive. Since she came out of the coma, she's been paralyzed."**

**"Omigod! The visions Maya's been having!" Liz Evans exclaimed. "Maya saw a young woman who looked like me in a wheelchair, and she thought she was in some kind of danger. She said that a man in a tree wanted to shoot her, but Jim Valenti cut the tree down and chased the bad man off."**

**"Yeah! That really happened!" Liz Parker said. "I knew Sheriff Valenti had that chainsaw in his hand for a reason! He said that he confiscated it from some illegal loggers in the park. He's been protecting me. He won't say so, but I know it." **

**Liz suddenly realized that, for someone who was supposedly paralyzed, she looked the picture of good health.**

**"Oh! Yeah, I know… I'm standing up… I really was in a wheelchair, though. I don't know what happened. When Alex and I used the orbs and we appeared here, I wasn't paralyzed anymore. Do you think the orbs could have healed me?"**

**Max nodded then slowly shook his head. "The orbs probably didn't heal you. They teleported your essence here and reassembled you the way your DNA says that you are supposed to be assembled."**

**"So… if I go back… I'll still be paralyzed?"**

**"Maybe," Max said. "Or maybe not."**

**"You could heal her, Max," Maria said.**

**Max nodded. "If there was anything wrong with her, I could… but there's nothing wrong with her now. The orbs reassembled her perfectly. The question is, when she goes back, will she be reassembled according to her DNA plan or the way the orbs found her? And why didn't the orbs reassemble her the way they found her when they brought her here? There's a lot that we don't know about the orbs." **

**"You could check her out, Max," the older Alex said. "Maybe you could tell something."**

**Max stood up and walked over to Liz then placed his hands on her back. As he stood there, the others noticed that his face showed surprise at first, then concern. Max felt Liz's arms then picked her wrist up and checked for the pulse. Then he picked up Alex's wrist and checked for his pulse. Finally, Max sat back down.**

**"You gonna tell us what that was all about, Max?" the older Alex asked.**

**"What do you mean," Max said.**

**"I mean that look on your face. Something wasn't what you were expecting. Even I could see that."**

**"I don't know," Max said, shaking his head. "I'm not a doctor or a scientist. I'm probably not qualified to speculate."**

**"You're all we've got, Max," Isabel said. "Varec's not here. [b]Speculate![/b]"**

**"What is it?" the younger Liz asked.**

**Max sighed. "You don't have a pulse or a heartbeat… Neither of you do."**

**Alex picked up his left hand with his right hand and felt for a pulse, then he tried to feel the pulse in the carotid artery in his neck. "There's gotta be a pulse, Max. We wouldn't be alive if there was no pulse. You can't live with no heartbeat… Can you?"**

**"Not that I know of," Max said.**

**Not finding his own pulse, Alex felt Liz's wrist. Then he looked at Max. "Oh, sh*t! I think we're dead!"**

**"You're not dead," Max said. "I don't understand what's going on, but I can vouch that you're definitely alive… heartbeat or not." **

**"How can they not have a heartbeat and still be alive," Isabel asked. "Maybe you just couldn't feel it, Max."**

**"No, No… Wait…" Michael said, thinking. "Suppose they aren't really here."**

**"Of course they're here," Isabel said. "You see them. I see them. They're sitting right there on the sofa." Isabel touched the younger Alex and Liz on the arm and face. "They're here," Michael. You can't feel a ghost. I can feel Liz and Alex. They're as real as you and me!"**

**"Maybe not," Michael said. "Well, yes and no, actually. Suppose that the orbs reassembled a duplicate set… a copy… of them here, but the original set is still on Earth."**

**"That's ridiculous," Isabel said. "You don't make copies of people. Human minds can barely think for one body. I don't mean that as an insult, but humans don't even have special powers… Their minds certainly aren't developed enough to control two bodies at once."**

**"Maybe they don't have to," Michael said. "Suppose their real bodies back on Earth are, like, in a coma or something, but their minds are here… sort of taking a vacation… in these other bodies."**

**"Michael, you need help." Isabel said. **

**"Don't mind Michael," she said to the younger Alex, adding with a tone of sarcasm, "He's just swallowed too much of our 'Lite Beer' Sea lately! I thought it looked like the beach was getting bigger!"**

**"No, No, Isabel," Max said. "It makes sense really. Think about it. The orbs could transport a DNA pattern and a memory core much more easily and efficiently than they could two whole human bodies. Michael may just have something there."**

**"Uh, guys," the younger Alex interrupted. "I hate to just butt in here, but since we're talking about Liz and me, could somebody tell us what this all means?"**

**"I wish I could, Alex," Max said. "If Michael is right, though… and we really aren't certain about that… It's only a theory… then your real bodies could still be on Earth, probably lying comatose where you left them, waiting for your return."**

**"Yeah," Michael said… "So enjoy these while you have them, 'cause they may be disposables. They may just be on loan for your holiday, so use 'em and abuse 'em. Have some fun!"**

**"Michael!" Isabel exclaimed.  **

**"Just kidding, Iz! Don't get in a frit!"**

**"Talk about tiny minds," Isabel fumed.**

**"Okay, I get it," the younger Alex said, "but wouldn't I still have to have a heartbeat… and be breathing," he added, holding his hand under his nose.**

**"I would have thought so," Max said. "But it's possible that your bodies back on Earth are breathing and beating for you, and these bodies are… are… well, I hate to use Michael's term, but… disposables… You know, just temporary for the time you're here."**

**"So… what happens if we're still here when the expiration date… or the warranty… runs out?" Alex asked.**

**Isabel shook her head. "You see! You see what you guys did?"**

**"Well, it's a reasonable question, Iz," Michael said.**

**"Oh!" Isabel huffed, waving her hand. "Alex, if the orbs brought you… that is, your essences or whatever… here and created some kind of temporary bodies for them… I'm sure that when these bodies… when they… when they… you know…"**

**"Say it, Isabel," Michael said, with an 'I-told-you-so' grin. "Say 'expire.'"**

**"I was going to say, when they are no longer needed…" Isabel said. "You will be returned to your regular bodies on Earth."**

**"Maybe you're all being concerned needlessly," Max said to Michael and Isabel as well as to the younger Alex and Liz. "I think it's likely that the bodies you have now will last as long as they're needed… however long that may be. The orbs aren't limited by our conceptions or limitations. These bodies could have unlimited life spans… at least they may last as long as your real bodies on Earth still survive to support them."**

**"That makes sense," Michael said. Isabel nodded.**

**"These bodies have fewer moving parts," Michael said, "so maybe they won't wear out as fast." **

**"Michael!" Isabel exclaimed, glaring at him again.**

**"What?"**

**"Okay, Liz Evans said. "If that's out of the way, can we move on to something else here? Liz… Oh, Wow! It's hard to address myself by my own name! I feel like I'm looking in a mirror talking to myself and somebody needs to lock me up!"**

**Everyone laughed.**

**Liz tried again. "Liz… Maya said that she saw Max in one of her visions, and he was in a box… a coffin, I think, and he fell out. Do you know what that was about?"**

**Liz Parker nodded. "When Sheriff Valenti wanted to open the coffins and he already had Max's dug up, Judge Lewis showed up and blocked him with a cease and desist order, but Kyle pulled on the ropes holding the coffin up, and the coffin fell and broke open. That's when the fake body rolled out."**

**"That must be what Maya saw," Liz Evans said.**

**"I had visions, too, Liz Parker said. "I saw your Golden Sea… Oh, and Alex, it's salt water, not lite beer."**

**"Damn, now you tell me… after I came all the way across the galaxy to get here!"**

**Everyone laughed again.**

**"And I know the names of all your children," Liz Parker said.**

**Liz Evans seemed shocked by this information. "You know their names?"**

**Liz Parker nodded. "I thought I was seeing my own future or something and they were my children. I felt like I was right here sometimes."**

**"You must have been seeing through Maya," Liz Evans said. "Her ability to see and communicate across the universe sometimes seems to leave her open to a sort of back flow of information. Some of the Antarians Too said that they had had occasional brief flashes of Antar, too."**

**"After we found out that the body in Max's grave was a fake… and that the others were all fakes too…" Liz Parker said, "we started wondering where the real bodies were. We're pretty sure they were taken to the Army base. I had a flash of Max calling me when I touched his ring. And later I had the vision of Maria asking for our help… so I believe that all of them could still be alive. But I think they're in danger, and one or more of them may possibly be badly hurt. I haven't been able to make a move without Judge Lewis showing up and trying to stop me or convince me that I should leave Roswell or that I should allow myself to be committed to an insane asylum he wants to send me to somewhere in Arizona."**

**"Judge Lewis," the older Alex mumbled. "A real friend he turned out to be!"**

**Kyle, standing beside Alex, nodded. "I seem to remember saying those exact words to Dad once… exactly! When Judge Lewis had Dad fired."**

**"So is anyone looking for Max and Maria… and Michael and Isabel…" Liz Evans asked.**

**"The Sheriff has been helping all he could. And I think Amy went to the base to try to find Maria herself. When we left, she still hadn't come back."**

**Max winced. "I hope that's not because of what my worst fears are suggesting. I know Amy. She won't give up. They'll have to shoot her to stop her… and they will."**

**"Mom would give them a fight," Maria said. "She wouldn't go down easy. She may not look formidable, but you have to know Mom. She probably could take on that whole base by herself… if the right incentive was there."**

**"To find you?" Isabel asked.**

**Maria nodded. "Yeah… to find me. I hope she's okay."**

**"I'm sure she is," Michael said soothingly. "We probably should be worrying more about the poor soldiers she meets up with."**

**Maria laughed and nodded, but deep inside, she was worried about Amy, even knowing that this Amy was not the mother that she knew here on Antar… and that if anything happened to this Amy it would not affect her mother here in any way. **

**"Do you have saber tooth tigers here," Liz Parker asked out of the blue.**

**Liz Evans laughed. "You saw Jim's pawgor? That must have given you a pause!"**

**Liz Parker smiled. "I saw a saber tooth tiger playing with a little boy."**

**"That would be Danyy," Liz Evans said. "Danyy is Jim and Kathleen's son. He can talk to animals."**

**"Jim and Kathleen?" Liz Parker asked. **

**Liz Evans nodded. "Kathleen Topolsky." **

**Liz Parker looked shocked. "Topolsky? Here? She's working against us! Topolsky is FBI!"**

**"She was," Liz Evans said. "She's not anymore… ours isn't anyway. Kathleen was betrayed by her own people and locked up and tortured for a long time after she tried to help us. They made up a story that she had been killed in a fire at an insane asylum…"**

**"Like Judge Lewis wants to put me in," Liz Parker said. **

**Liz Evans shuddered involuntarily, wondering if it could be a coincidence. "Don't let him do that," she said to the younger Liz. "Fight it!"**

**Liz Parker nodded. "I always thought that the Sheriff would marry Amy DeLuca. They seemed to have a thing for each other."**

**"Well, our Jim married Kathleen," Isabel said. "And Amy married Varec, a young Antarian scientist. Both of them could not be happier. But if you're from an alternate dimension, as we think you may be, then there's no guarantee that things will happen the same way with your Jim and Amy. They could wind up marrying each other."**

**Liz Parker smiled. "I have this feeling about that."**

**A staff person came into the room and whispered to Liz Evans, and Liz nodded then stood up.**

**"Dinner is ready. If everyone would like to head for the dining room, we can continue this conversation there." Turning to Max, she added, "After we eat, I'd like to take Liz to Kyyks and get her something to wear. We don't know how long they may be here. Would you like to come, too, Alex?"**

**"Uh, well… yeah, sure, I guess."**

**"Or I could take you out to Jim's place to see his pawgor," the older Alex said.**

**Alex brightened then looked at Liz Parker.**

**"No… that's okay. I'll stay with Liz. I probably should get another shirt and some pants so I don't have to wear the same ones all the time. Maybe we can go see the paguar together later. We really need to get back to Earth as soon as possible, though… if we can figure out how to do that. The others still need us."**

**The older Alex smiled understandingly. "It's called a Pawgor," he said, correcting his younger self's pronunciation. **

**Max pulled out seats for Liz Parker and for his wife, and both sat down at the table.**

**"you've got to be twice the gentleman today, huh, Max," Liz said with a smile. "It's good for you."**

**Max smiled but didn't reply.**

**"This looks really good," Alex said, looking longingly at the food on his plate and the bowls of other foods set out to choose from. "It smells good, too! For some reason, I'm really starved."**

**"Me, too," Liz agreed.**

**"Are your bodies made to eat," Michael asked. "I mean, you don't breathe or have a heartbeat. Can you… you know?"**

**Isabel's head sank slowly down onto the table, and she covered her face with her hands and moaned. **

**Alex looked at the piece of yegg steak on his fork and slowly put it back down. **

**Liz seemed unsure what to do with her food. "Uh, can I be excused for a moment? I… I really need to… I think I forgot to wash my hands."**

**"Right down the hall on the left," Isabel said without raising her head. "You'll see it."**

**"Thanks," Liz said, standing up and leaving the table.**

**"Michael," Isabel mumbled under her breath, "If the end of this day arrives… and you're still alive, it'll be a frikkin' miracle."**

**"Well, it's something they needed to know," Michael said. "I wouldn't want them to blow up like balloons and burst or something. I'd never forgive myself."**

**"You need to worry more about me forgiving you, Michael. Your life in the immediate future depends on it… and right now… it's not looking good. You've passed critical, you're already on life support!"**

**Liz returned to the table and sat back down then looked at Alex and smiled.**

**"Is everything… alright," Alex asked hesitantly.**

**Liz nodded and picked up her fork, taking a big bite of the grelliats on her plate. "Mmmmmm… This is soooo good!" **

**That was all Alex needed. He attacked the yegg steak, grelliats, and other foods on his plate like a starving man.**

**Isabel picked up her fork but seemed to hesitate as she decided whether it would look better sticking out of a grelliat or Michael's back. She gave Michael a quick stare then stabbed the grelliat and put it in her mouth.**

**"Hey, it was better that they know now," Michael said. "I'm only trying to look out for them."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Liz and Alex see the town and meet the others, and everyone tries to figure out how to get them back home again… and where to send them back to, dimensionally, since they seem to have come from an alternate dimension. They also discuss plans to assist them in finding and rescuing the others. Meanwhile, in The Night The Dreams Died, Jeff Parker discovers Liz and Alex unconscious together above the CrashDown, and Judge Lewis, learning of their condition, sees a light at the end of his tunnel, with a little intervention on his part.  **


	59. Rath58

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Way Way Way Over The Rainbow**

**Chapter 58**

**LVIII **

**Liz and Alex stared at the "car," a royal blue Fan-Ji IV…**

**"I don't hear the motor or anything," Liz said, shaking her head in amazement. "How is it just staying there like that in the air?" **

**Max smiled. Liz knew that she was looking at some kind of hover car or anti-gravity vehicle, but she couldn't figure out what made it stay where it was without any noisy fans or anything underneath to lift it off the ground… or any sound of a motor at all as far as she could tell. Yet there it was… about fifteen inches off the ground… not moving at all, as though it were perfectly normal for it to just be parked there like that in the air.**

**"Where's the door handle," Alex asked, running his hand appreciatively over the side of the car. **

**Max pressed his hand to the door just below the window, and a handprint appeared briefly, then the top of the car, "doors" and all, floated back.**

**"Awesome," Alex said. "Could I do it, or are you the only one who can open it?"**

**"It's programmed to my DNA," Max said, "but it'll respond to anyone I program it to recognize."**

**"Awesome," Alex repeated. "I don't guess I could take one of these back with me? I love this car…"**

**Max smiled. "It might be hard to explain." **

**"I know," Alex acknowledged ruefully, "but it sure would be fun to drive back to college in one of these."**

**Max helped Liz Parker and his wife into the car, though clearly there was no need other than mere chivalry. All they had to do was step in and sit down. Even the seat restraints were automatic. Alex stepped into the back with Liz Parker, and Max sat down in the driver's seat then waved his hand over a sensor on the dash. The car seemed to rise upward gently and rotate to the left as Max turned the steering wheel. Then it moved forward smoothly. It felt oddly like an Earth car, except that it was floating on air, so there were no bumps, no road noises… just the sound of the wind… until Max pressed a button, closing the side ports… small vents in the lower part of the windows. Then there was only silence, as the scenery whisked by. **

**Suddenly, Liz and Alex's seats, which were individually controlled, both tilted back slightly.**

**"What happened," Alex asked. "Did I do that?"**

**Max grinned. "No, I did it. You can control them yourselves, though."**

**Alex moved his hand around under the seat but found no control levers or buttons.**

**"Lift your hand," Max said. "Point at the back of the seat in front of you." **

**Alex did, and a set of sensors appeared in the air in front of him. They were there… yet not there… at least not in the sense that they could actually be felt, physically. The entire panel was something that Alex could only describe as "virtual reality." He pushed at a sensor button, but his finger went through the panel, and nothing happened.**

**"Try again," Max said. "Just touch it… Don't stick your finger through it."**

**Alex "touched" the sensor on the virtual touch pad with his fingertip, and his seat resumed an upright position. Then he leaned the seat back again.**

**"Cool! Awesome!" What does this one do?" Alex pointed at another sensor on the virtual touch pad.**

**"In the lower right corner? That's the eject button," Max said. "That's in case the car goes crazy and takes off headed for the stars with everyone in it… You push that button and it throws you out of the car through the roof."**

**Alex looked at Max for any sign that he was joking. Max didn't have a trace of a smile or a grin.**

**"Really?" Alex asked, removing his finger carefully. Max smiled.**

**"Max, you're no different in any dimension!" Alex pressed the sensor, and music began to waft out from the virtual console. Then he lowered his hand, and the virtual console disappeared, but the music continued.**

**"Not bad," Alex said. "I kind of like it." Liz, sitting next to him, looked at him quizzically.**

**"The music, I mean."**

**"What music," Liz asked.**

**"The music that I just turned on. Don't you hear it?"**

**Liz shook her head.**

**"It's audible only to you, Alex," Liz Evans said from the front. "The controls allow you to make it audible to everyone if you wish, but their controls allow them to override it if they choose not to listen to it or prefer to listen to something else."**

**"Mom and Dad would have loved that!" Alex said. He leaned his seat back again and watched the scenery go by.**

**"It looks a lot like Earth," he said after several minutes had passed. "I mean, you have trees and bushes and lakes and… and even horses."**

**Liz Evans nodded. "Our horses are a little different when you see them up close, though."**

**"Well, they look just like regular horses running out there in the pasture… and they gallop like real horses… What? Do they fly or something?"**

**Liz laughed. "No… not that we know of. They just come with some unusual colors and markings… and they've got this little thing on their heads like a budding unicorn's horn. It's not obvious from a distance. The Antarians call them yoriths… the horses, I mean."**

**"They run fast," Liz Parker said. Liz Evans nodded. "Wait'll you see Jim's pawgor run… and jump! It's incredible."**

**"That's the saber-tooth tiger I saw playing with the little boy… Danyy, isn't it," the younger Liz said. **

**Alex looked surprised. "So then you, uh… you weren't just kidding about that before? Liz shook her head.**

**"Oh… um… okay…" Alex said softly. **

**"Well, I don't know if it's exactly a saber-tooth tiger," Liz Evans said, "like the ones on Earth in prehistoric times. But it looks just like all the pictures I've ever seen of one… so that's what we call it… other than a pawgor I mean. That's what it really is, of course… a pawgor."**

**Liz watched the scenery distractedly for several moments, then she looked back at Alex. "We should really be trying to get back home, Alex… Max and Michael and Maria and Isabel are still lost, and I need to find them… and I don't know what will happen when Mom and Dad find us together in the den."**

**"I didn't think about that," Alex said. "You don't think your Dad will think… I mean… We were both sitting up, right? He won't think… you know…?"**

**"I'm sure he'll forgive you, Alex."**

**Alex swallowed.**

**"After he throws you out the window," Liz added with a slight smile.**

**"See… that's what I'm afraid of," Alex said. "Your apartment's upstairs… and I don't bounce very well."**

**Liz smiled. "Dad would know something was wrong, Alex. You don't need to worry about him throwing you out the window. I'm worried about what he'll think, though, when neither one of us wakes up."**

**Alex looked at her and nodded, understanding fully the implications of what Liz was saying.**

**"Well, I've got Varec researching the history of the orbs now," Max said. "He's the best scientist on Antar. If the information is available anywhere, he'll find out what you need to do to get back. We have our own set of orbs here, but Varec was concerned about sending you back with ours, since yours were from another dimension or something. We don't want to send you back where you don't belong and have you lost… interdimensionally or something… like those guys on Sliders on TV back on Earth."**

**"That could really happen?" Alex asked.**

**"You're here," Max said. "It seems you've proved it." **

**"So… how are we going to get back?" Alex asked. "We kind of left our orbs behind when we came here."**

**"That's what Varec is trying to find out," Max said. "There has to be a way to do it. Varec and I both feel certain of that. It's just a matter of knowing what it is. When we know, we'll tell you and help you get back… but for now, all you can do is relax and enjoy your time here… however long or short it might be."**

**"I'm enjoying being here and seeing everything…" Liz said. "but I feel guilty… like I shouldn't be here when I need to be helping them… They could be hurt."**

**"You were paralyzed before you came here, weren't you, Liz?" Liz Evans asked.**

**Liz Parker nodded.**

**"How were you going to help them if you were paralyzed?"**

**"I was getting better," Liz said. "I exercised… as much as I could… for therapy. Vera helped me. That's my nurse. I just need to be there. I don't know what I can do, but I need to be there to try. Can you understand?"**

**Liz Evans turned around and looked at her younger self and nodded. "Yeah. I can understand."**

**Max brought the car to a stop beside a tight parking space between two other cars. "This is our oldest and best still-standing department store right here, guys. It's called 'Kyyks.'" Max turned the steering wheel to the right while depressing a small button on the center console bar, and the car floated sideways into the parking space and stopped.**

**"That was too cool," Alex said. "How many years are we behind you on Earth?"**

**"You mean how long till you can buy one of these?" Max asked.**

**"Yeah."**

**"Earth civilization is about 28,000 years younger than Antarian civilization."**

**"I don't think I can wait that long," Alex said.**

**Max grinned. "That doesn't mean it will take that long on Earth. Antar had different priorities along the way. You could have something like this in the next… hundred years or so."**

**"Oh, just a hundred? No problem then," Alex said, looking downcast in spite of his grin. "I'll just put it on my Christmas list for the year 2,114."**

**"Sorry, Alex," Max said. Max waved his hand over the console, and the top and doors floated back and the seat restraints unlocked. "Everyone who's going in, follow Liz. She lives here when she's not in the palace," Max said with a wry grin.**

**Liz smiled sheepishly. "I don't always buy something. I just like to shop. Besides, you've been over to that new hover car dealer with all the new alien vehicles more times lately than I've been here."**

**Max nodded. "She's right. It's my downfall. The Fan-Ji IV is an Antarian car, but alien vehicles are becoming all the rage at the moment here on Antar. There are some very unusual vehicles out there… built by creatures whose physiology is radically different than ours in some cases… creatures who have radically different concepts of what transportation should be like. It's kind of awesome to see some of them up close and test drive them."**

**"I can imagine," Alex said.**

**Liz laughed. "Wait'll you've seen some of them, Alex! I'm not sure that you [b]can[/b] imagine! At least Antarian cars look pretty much like Earth cars, even if they are futuristic by Earth standards."**

**As they turned to go in, a long, strange-looking vehicle pulled up alongside Max's Fan-Ji IV. Easily three times as long as Max's car, this new vehicle had large flaps that stuck out on the lower sides. They probably had something to do with the hovering system or with stabilizing the car, but they made it look like a giant translucent stingray –the fish kind- with windows on the top, swimming down the road.**

**"Good luck finding a place to park that!" Alex laughed.**

**As he watched, a man, and then a woman, exited the vehicle. Then the vehicle disappeared suddenly in a bright flash of light.**

**"Where did it go," Alex asked.''**

**"Watch," Max replied. The man leaned over and picked up something tiny at his feet and put it into his pocket. **

**"When he comes back out and presses the button, the car will become normal size again," Max said.**

**"Well, I hope he doesn't accidentally press the button while he's got the car in his pocket…" Alex scoffed… "especially when he's on the escalator or something. That would be interesting. It's so tiny. What if he can't find it after he shrinks it… or someone steps on it before he can pick it up? It looks more like a flattened plastic submarine… or some kind of freaky, ground-hugging flying saucer with a limo attached to the back! Who would make a car like that?"**

**Max smiled. "The Archedians would. And it's not plastic. They call it neopseudobiological stressed metallic alloy. You think it looks odd outside… You should see it inside!"**

**Alex shook his head. "No thanks. The only thing I can imagine worse than accidentally pressing the button when that car's in my pocket would be accidentally shrinking it with me still in it. I don't feel like swimming in a bowl of milk with my arm through a cheerio or using ant transportation until someone finds me with a magnifying glass and picks me up with a pair of tweezers, thank you."**

**Liz Parker giggled, and her Antarian counterpart smiled.**

**"What does the guy that owns it say in the morning," Alex continued. "Honey, I can't find the car. Do you remember which coat I left it in? By the way… Where's our kid? Was that him I saw swimming in my froot loops this morning?"**

**Both Lizzes laughed. **

**Max smiled. "Come on. Let's go in." **

**"Honest, Dear," Alex continued, faking a female voice as they walked into the store, "I swear I didn't know the car was in the pocket when I put your pants in the washer." **

**Both Lizzes were laughing out loud now, and Max was shaking his head.**

**"Maybe if I use the hair dryer on it…" Alex added apologetically, using his most contrite female voice.**

**"Don't encourage him," Max said, smiling too, in spite of himself. "You wouldn't want to be responsible for him running away and becoming a circus clown."**

**"You're just jealous," Alex said, "because I can make girls laugh without dropping my pants."**

**Liz's mouth fell open, and she glanced at her Antarian counterpart, who was smiling slightly but appeared shocked, too. Max looked at Alex… **

**"Alex… You're the same in any dimension."**

**"I'll take that as a compliment," Alex said.**

**"Go easy, Alex," Liz Parker whispered to him. "He is the king here… He could have you locked up… or executed… or something."**

**Alex smiled. "He's just Max… king or no king. He's still Max."**

**Max took out his communicator and punched a number. "Jarto'h, how long would it take to prepare the gallows for an afternoon execution? Four hours? Can you make it three? Good." Max put the device back into his pocket.**

**"He's kidding," Alex said confidently. "You were kidding… right, Max?"**

**Max didn't answer.**

**"I'm sure he was kidding," Alex said. "Max wouldn't… I mean… I know he's not our Max, but he's still… How different can he be just because he's from another dimension… and a king here?"**

**Max remained silent. Alex seemed unusually quiet for a few minutes, then he shrugged.**

**"I was just kidding, you know, Max… about the… you know… I don't know where that came from. It was just a joke."**

**"Liz," Max said, "why don't you and… uh, you and Liz… go check out the ladies things, and I'll take care of Alex. I'll meet you here in, say, two hours?"**

**Alex swallowed. Liz nodded and smiled then turned to lead her unsure younger counterpart off toward another section of the store. Max motioned for Alex to follow. **

**"I know what you're doing, Alex?"**

**"You do?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"What am I doing?"**

**Max smiled. "Liz was shot, paralyzed… and condemned unfairly to live her life in a wheelchair. She's had every reason to be emotionally destroyed, every reason to give up on life… to give up on happiness. You've been keeping her spirits up… keeping her laughing… giving her a friend to lean on."**

**Alex shrugged. "Yeah… well, I just do it… I don't think about it, but… I just wanted to… yeah… I guess you're right. I have been trying to make her laugh. I just want her to be happy, Max. So does Kyle… and Kyle's Dad… Sheriff Valenti… and her Mom and Dad. I guess I can try to tone the joking down if you…"**

**Max shook his head. "Don't even think about doing that! The two of you may be from another dimension… and she may be younger than my Liz… but she's still Liz. And I still love her, Alex. Make her laugh! All you can! You've got something that puts her at ease and makes her happy… a natural sense of humor and compassion… Like I said, you really are a lot like our Alex… I guess you really are the same in any dimension… Anyway, I just wanted you to know… I appreciate what you're doing. And I wanted to thank you… for my counterpart down there… wherever he is… and… and… for me, too." Max looked at Alex, and Alex thought he saw a glint of moisture in Max's eyes.**

**"You're not going to execute me, then?"**

**Max grinned slowly. "Oh, I didn't say that. What's an afternoon without a good execution? But if you keep Liz smiling and laughing, I guess I'd be obliged to pardon you." **

**"I'll give it my usual superior effort, your highness," Alex replied with an understanding smile.**

**"I'm sure you will," Max said. "I don't know if I can take it… But it makes Liz laugh, so don't ever stop! …You want to play some pinball?"**

**"You've got that up here?"**

**Max nodded. "Well, it's the Antarian version, but it's pretty much the same idea as Earth pinball… sort of."**

**"Yeah, okay, sure! But I thought we were supposed to be shopping for clothes."**

**"What for," Max asked.**

**"Well… to wear, I guess."**

**"No need. When we see the girls, they'll want us to come check out some shirts and things that they saw that they thought would look great on us. We go with them and try them on. Voila! We found what we came for. We just buy what they like. Saves us having to make a lot of choices."**

**"I think I see why you wore that same brown sweater all the time back on Earth, Max."**

**"We've still got time for an execution this afternoon."**

**"Pinball sounds good."**

**                                ************

**In the ladies wear department, Liz Parker picked up a rather pretty blouse and held it up. It had an oddly exotic look, but it could pass for Earth wear. Most of the clothes she saw here could, though there were a few that probably would raise some eyebrows and bring unwanted questions. **

**"When we go back, will we be able to take anything with us?"**

**Liz Evans thought a moment. "I don't know. I don't know why not, though. You came here with what you had on."**

**"But we had the orbs in our hands… and they stayed there."**

**"Yeah, that's true… Maybe they're made to… I don't know. We'll just have to find out, I guess, won't we?"**

**Liz Parker smiled. "I'd really love to take some of these back, but I know some of them would be hard to explain. People would want to know who the designer was, and what would I tell them?"**

**"Give them a name… any Antarian name. They'll probably say they've heard of him."**

**Liz laughed. "You're right. They probably would. Some of our designers on Earth are a little out of the world anyway! You know… I'm really glad I came here. I haven't really been out shopping since… since… well, you know… what happened to me."**

**Liz Evans nodded.**

**"And it would be hard to really enjoy myself shopping in a wheelchair… not the way I'm enjoying myself right now, being here with you… walking and all."**

**"I know," Liz Evans said, smiling. "I'm glad you came here, too. Maybe we can find a way to help you find Max and the others when you go back."**

**"Oh, I hope so," the younger Liz said. "That would be like… a dream come true! Max is… well… the first guy… the only guy really… I ever really loved. I'm crazy about Kyle and Alex, but I love Max. Can you understand?"**

**"Look who you're talking to," Liz Evans said. "Yeah, I understand."**

**"I hope your Max and my Alex are having fun shopping," Liz Parker said.**

**"Oh, they're playing pinball," Liz Evans said, "or video games one… in the arcade."**

**"How do you know that?"**

**"I'm married to him… I know a lot of things he doesn't know I know." Liz smiled. "They'll show up and expect us to show them some great-looking clothes we found for them, they'll buy them, and they'll pretend they were shopping the whole time."**

**"You don't mind?"**

**Liz Evans smiled. "Why should I mind? I know he'll be well-dressed."**

**Liz Parker laughed. "Good point! But I can't believe they would try to make us think they were shopping while they were really somewhere else… having fun."**

**"Well, we're having fun," Liz Evans said.**

**"Well, yeah, I know, but guys aren't supposed to have fun shopping."**

**"I guess that's why they're in the video arcade."**

**"I guess so… but you know… if they tell us they were shopping, I think I'd like to play a little joke on them."**

**"What do you have in mind?"**

**Liz Parker whispered to her Antarian counterpart, and Liz Evans smiled. "It sounds like something Alex might appreciate… a few years from now." She nodded. "I like it."**

**                                ************

**After playing various Antarian video games in the arcade, Max looked at the time and patted Alex on the back.**

**"Ten minutes till we're supposed to meet the girls. We better not be late. They may come looking for us."**

**"You live a dangerous life, Max."**

**Max smiled. "Some of us thrive on danger, Alex. It's the daredevil in us."**

**"Or maybe just the devil." Alex grinned.**

**"What was that?"**

**Alex shook his head. "Nothing."**

**As Max and Alex walked back toward the place where they had left Liz and her younger counterpart, they saw that the girls were already there.**

**"There they are, Alex. Remember what I told you."**

**Alex nodded.**

**"How'd you guys do," Liz Parker asked. "I don't see any packages."**

**"We didn't find anything we liked," Max said, only half lying.**

**"Well," Liz Evans said, "We saw some things that would look great for both of you! Why don't you come take a look! Try them on!"**

**Max looked at Alex and smiled. Alex shook his head. "You da man, Max. You called it," he said quietly.**

**Max grinned. "Okay, we'll look. I hope they're better than what we looked at."**

**"Oh, I'm sure of that," Liz Evans said. She took Max by the hand and led him to the men's department.**

**"Close your eyes… both of you. We want it to be a surprise. You're gonna love it!"**

**Max looked at Alex and shrugged, then both of them closed their eyes. Liz Evans unbuttoned Max's shirt and took it off, and her younger counterpart unbuttoned and removed Alex's shirt. Then they both worked quickly to put another shirt on each one. Max felt Liz put something on his head and something around his neck. He wondered about it, ties being unusual apparel on Antar, but then he figured that it must be an Antarian dress collar. Liz Parker put a hat on Alex's head and told him to sit down. Then she slipped something on over his pants.**

**"Okay, guys, you can look now," Liz Evans said. "What do you think?"**

**"It looks great," Max said, automatically, as he opened his eyes. Then he caught a glimpse of Alex, and his mouth dropped open. Alex looked at Max and snorted, then broke into hysterical laughter. Max looked at his own clothes then looked in the mirror. He had on a silky yellow shirt that must have been brighter than the Antarian sun. And as if that weren't enough, it had purple polka-dots that almost pulsated with their own life. Then there were hot pink diagonal lines zig-zagging through all the polka-dots, connecting them in random fashion. On his head, Max had an odd-looking hat with a very large feather in it, and around his neck was a bright red kerchief that looked more like something a clown would wear. Alex had on a pink shirt with green vertical stripes and a hat that was three times too large. But most embarrassingly, over his pants, he had on a pair of women's undies… with the word "Monday" across the front in Antarian.**

**"I'm not even going to ask what that says," Alex said. "Max?"**

**Max shrugged. "I'd say they're playing a joke on us, Alex. Must be your personality rubbing off on everyone."**

**"Oh, yeah! Blame it on the guy with the alien undies! That's always the way!" **

**Max grinned. "You do look… amazing, Alex! I must admit."**

**"Look at yourself, you pervert. Stop looking at my undies!"**

**Max turned red but couldn't stop laughing.**

**"Where did you find this stuff," Max asked Liz. "I don't think even the diciest Antarian would wear these things!" Liz looked over to the side and motioned to someone to come out. It was Jayyd Guerin, and she was grinning from ear to ear.**

**"Did they like it, Aunt Liz?"**

**"They loved it, Jayyd!" Liz turned back to Max, "I called Michael and asked if we could borrow Jayyd for a little while… to alter some colors for us. When I explained what we needed, he was more than eager to help."**

**"Oh, I'll just bet he was," Max said. "Is he here, too? Come on out, Michael! …We may have that execution yet, Alex!"**

**Michael walked out from behind the wall with a smile on his face. "You guys look… ridiculous."**

**Max and Alex pulled their shirts off quickly and put their own shirts back on, and Alex pulled off the panties and the oversized hat.**

**"I've got to say, though, Max, I thought it brought out the real you," Michael added with a chuckle.**

**"Laugh it up, Michael! Payback will be sweet!"**

**"You'll have to top this," Michael said. "And the sweet thing is, it was Liz's idea!"**

**Liz Evans shrugged and looked sheepish. Both Lizzes were laughing.**

**"I especially like that hat with the big feather, Max," Michael said. "It's really fetching!"**

**Max reached up and pulled the hat off of his head.**

**"That can't be a real feather," Alex said. "It's got to be at least three feet long!"**

**"I think it's a jah-ee feather," Liz Evans said.**

**"You've got birds that big?"**

**"Only the jah-ee. This is one of its smallest feathers. I've seen people picking up small loose feathers after Max has had a visit from the jah-ee. I guess they sell the feathers to designers."**

**Max looked at the hat and pulled out the price tag. "Oh, geez! Put this back! I'd have to mortgage the palace to pay for this!"**

**Liz looked at the tag. "Well, that may be a little bit of an exaggeration… but that is an awful lot of money. I guess jah-ee feathers aren't cheap."**

**Michael snorted, as he began to laugh again. "Well, they look good on you, Max! You'll have to wear them more often." **

**Max reddened.**

**"And Alex," Michael said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I think I can spring for you to get the whole set of those cute undies. You don't want to wear 'Monday' every day."**

**Alex turned red. "Is that what it said?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**"Well, I guess it could have been worse," Alex said. "I had all kinds of ideas about what that might have said."**

**Max and Michael laughed, and then both Lizzes began to laugh again, though they were trying hard not to.**

**"Have you guys eaten yet," Michael asked. Max shook his head.**

**"Common, let's go to the CrashDown then," Michael said. "I'll treat."**

**"Well, I am getting kind of hungry again," Alex said.**

**"Me, too," Liz Parker said, nodding.**

**"Okay," Max agreed. "Just let me take a quick look in the mirror again to make sure I'm back to my own self."**

**"You really should wear the feather," Michael chuckled. "Maybe they'd rent it to you for the day."**

**"Laugh it up, big guy," Max said. "Alex will get to see that execution."**

**"Don't worry, Alex," Liz Evans said. "There hasn't been an execution on Antar since Max and Michael kicked Kivar's butt and took our planet back."**

**Alex smiled and nodded understandingly.**

**"You executed Kivar?"**

**"No," Max said. "The jah-ee took care of Kivar and Nicholas for us. Kivar was the last one to execute anyone on Antar. There's very little crime on Antar, and after Kivar, everyone would just as soon never see an execution again."**

**"Really? That's good to know," Alex said.**

**"Though I still could make an exception," Max said with a grin.**

**"Let's go get some chow," Michael said. Jayyd, you hungry?"**

**"UM HMMM!"**

**"Good. Come on, guys."**

**Liz paid for the things they had bought, including a couple of shirts and pants for Max and Alex. Then Max, Michael, Liz Evans, Liz Parker, Alex, and Jayyd all left together with Michael to go to the CrashDown.**

**                                   ************

**Liz Parker stared at the front of the CrashDown for several minutes, then she walked through the door and sat down with the others at a large booth in the corner. Almost immediately, a young Antarian girl appeared to take their orders… dressed in the same alien motif apron and antennae that Liz had once worn. The girl took their orders with a smile and then disappeared into the kitchen.**

**"I can't believe this," Liz said. "I feel like… like I should be putting my apron on and going to work. I expect at any minute Dad will walk out and…"**

**As she spoke, Jeff Parker walked out of the kitchen and looked up to see Max, Michael, Jayyd, a somewhat young-looking Alex, and… two Lizzes. He shook his head and opened his eyes again.**

**"If I go back to bed and wake up again, are there still going to be two of you, Liz?"**

**Liz Evans nodded. "I'm afraid so, Dad."**

**"You called him, Dad?" Liz Parker asked automatically. "Oh, that's right… I guess he is… you are… I mean…" Liz Evans stood up and put her arms around Jeff, and then Liz Parker did, too.**

**"You look just like Dad… I guess you are… in a way… only you look a little… older maybe… Is that a couple of white hairs I see?"**

**"That's what happens when you see your daughter suddenly become a teenager again," Jeff said, plucking the two hairs out and looking at them.**

**Alex laughed, and Liz smiled.**

**"It's a long story, Dad," Liz Evans said. "Liz and Alex here are from… we think they're from a sort of parallel dimension. The orbs brought them here. Liz was shot at her graduation and woke up from a four-month coma to find out she was paralyzed. Somehow, she's not paralyzed when she's here, though."**

**Jeff appeared clearly moved by this information.**

**"I always wondered how we managed to make it out of there without losing our children," he said. "It was a miracle. Did the others survive… in your world… wherever you came from?"**

**"That's what they're trying to find out, Dad. Max, Michael, Isabel, and Maria were supposedly killed. Four months after their funerals, though, Sheriff Valenti found out that the bodies weren't in their coffins. And Liz here has had flashes in which she has seen Max and Maria calling her. She thinks they may all be alive."**

**"Da-" Jeff stated, then he glanced at Jayyd… "Doggone FBI Special Unit and the Army's Alien Task Force. They were a scourge in our world… until Dan became the head of the unit. Dan changed everything. He's one of the good ones."**

**"Dan who?" Liz Parker asked.**

**"You wouldn't know him. Dan Klein… and his wife, Diane. What was her maiden name? Anyway, it's Klein now. Casey! That was her name before. Diane Casey. She used to be an agent with the FBI's Special Unit, but she turned to our side. Then the President made Dan head of the Unit after the former head disappeared leaving the Unit in disarray and plagued by scandal. Dan gave the Unit a whole new direction, and he and Diane travel back and forth to Earth all the time now."**

**"From Antar?" Alex asked. Jeff nodded.**

**"Maybe Dan Klein could help us," Alex suggested.**

**"I doubt it, Alex," Jeff said. "Before Diane met us and Dan fell in love with her, both of them were Special Unit agents. They never met us yet in your world it would seem. You seem to be ten or fifteen years younger than we are. And since graduation didn't happen the same way in your world, there's no guarantee that anything else will either."**

**"But maybe the people have the same hearts," Alex said. "I don't know… maybe they just need to find their way in our world like they did in yours. What I mean is that as long as nothing comes along and affects this Dan Klein in my world, he may remain a dedicated agent, but given similar… situations… he might turn out to have the same heart that the one in your world does."**

**Jeff nodded. "I see what you're saying… and you could be right… but the situation that brought Dan over to our side in our world may never be duplicated in your world. I would have to consider him extremely dangerous in his… let's say, pre-enlightened days… Diane, too, probably. Besides, I don't think we would know where to find him, and even if we did, he would have no influence in your world. He hasn't been made the head of the agency there yet… He may never be."**

**Alex nodded and sighed. "It was just a thought."**

**The girl returned and placed the orders on the table. Alex and Liz seemed especially hungry, but everyone seemed to enjoy the food. As they were finishing, another person came into the CrashDown.**

**"Varec!" Max called. "Over here! Come join us." Varec smiled and walked quickly over to the table and sat down.**

**"I've got good news, Zan!"**

**"Well, tell us," Max said, swallowing a bite of his alien cheeseburger. "We could use some good news… anything you've got."**

**"I can get you back," Varec said to Alex and Liz. "You can go home!"**

**Everyone was silent. **

**"I thought you'd be happy," Varec said. "I thought that's what you wanted."**

**"Yeah… yeah, it is, Varec," Max said. "It's just that it's so… sudden… and unexpected."**

**Alex and Liz both nodded.**

**"Well…" Varec said, sizing up the situation astutely, "there's no need to leave until you want to, of course. It could just as well be tomorrow… or a year from now… as today."**

**Alex sighed and looked at Liz, and she smiled slightly.**

**"You don't look forward to going back to the chair, do you, Liz?" Alex asked.**

**Liz shook her head, and Varec looked confused. "The electric chair?"**

**Liz smiled and sniffed. "Worse! The wheelchair. It's alright, Alex. I have to find Max… and Maria and Michael and Isabel. If I'm not there to keep pushing everyone to find them, who will? I know Amy will always look for Maria, but she needs somebody to help her. I have to do it… and I have to go back right away. How soon can we go?"**

**Varec took out a set of orbs. "Anytime you're ready." **

**Liz looked at Alex.**

**Alex swallowed and nodded. "We need to go now," he said to Varec. "Max… Michael… Liz… it's been… super meeting you and being here. Maybe we'll meet again someday." Alex sniffed, then Liz did, too. Liz hugged Max, and Max kissed her on the cheek. Then she hugged Michael and her counterpart, Liz Evans. Then she hugged Jeff again.**

**Alex looked at Jayyd and smiled. "Jayyd, it's been a special… um… experience meeting you! If I ever need some clown clothes, I'll sure see if you're available to do the color changes. You're awesome!" **

**Liz smiled and hugged Jayyd. "That goes for me, too. I really could use you on my world. Varec? Can we go?"**

**Varec nodded and handed Alex and Liz each an orb.**

**"Each of you hold an orb in one hand, and hold each other's hands with the other hand. Then place the two orbs together, forming a complete circuit."**

**"Then she's gonna click her heels together three times while saying, 'I want to go home,' right?" Alex said. Liz laughed and slapped him playfully on the arm.**

**"No," Varec said. "Verbal incantations won't work. You both need to concentrate on the orbs and on where you want to go. You will see the object of your search in your minds. Then you go to it."**

**"Just like that?" Alex asked.**

**Varec nodded.**

**"Think about our bodies, Alex. We want to go back to our bodies on Earth."**

**"Good thinking, Liz." Both of them closed their eyes. Max looked at his wife, Liz. She had tears in her eyes. Then he looked at Michael. Michael swallowed silently. Max looked back at Alex and Liz and raised one hand as they began to disappear.**

**"Take care of her, Alex," he said, his voice breaking in spite of all his efforts. "Keep her laughing."**

**As Alex and Liz disappeared, the orbs fell to the floor. At the table, several minutes passed in silence… other than for the occasional sniffle and the sound of napkins disappearing from the napkin holder. **

**"Varec," Max said, finally breaking the silence, "could we use our orbs to go to her world?"**

**"I don't think so, Zan. I could research some more, but dimensional travel with the orbs was a fluke. It wasn't supposed to happen. What I found out was that their coming here opened up a pathway for the orbs to take them back… under the right conditions."**

**"Could we go there with the sphere of the portal?"**

**Varec shook his head. "The sphere's are confined to this dimension… They can see and travel into the past and future… but only in our dimension. Unfortunately, there is no experience with dimensional travel in our history."**

**"Then there's no way that you know of for us to help them?"**

**"Well… there may be one."**

**"What?"**

**"The New Granolith. Theoretically, it could travel dimensionally. You must understand that it has never been tried or proven. It's only a theory."**

**"Your theory, Varec?"**

**Varec nodded.**

**"That's good enough for me." Max looked at Michael, and Michael nodded his agreement. Then he looked at Liz, and she nodded, too.**

**"How long would it take to get the ship ready?"**

**"Three days… then, by my calculations, twelve days to get there."**

**"How soon can you get workers started on preparing the New Granolith? It hasn't been used for a while."**

**"They've already started. I expected you to make this decision."**

**"Michael," Max said, "We need to plan this out over the next couple of days while they're preparing the New Granolith. And we need to recruit whoever's going to go with us to help."**

**Michael nodded, and Max looked around the table and smiled…**

**"Folks… We're going to Earth."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: This storyline will continue, chronologically, in The Night The Dreams Died. Alex and Liz return to their bodies, but things are not as they left them. To help Max, Maria, Michael, and Isabel, they will first have to save themselves, and the prospects of that have just gone from challenging to dismal. In the next chapter of this book, The Four Faces Of Rath, Max and group set out for Earth in Dimension "Y" with the New Granolith, but being twelve days away, there is a real fear that they may be too late to help anyone by the time they arrive. Expect Amy and Jim to be formidable together. If they can keep Liz and Alex from a tragic end for long enough… and if Maria can keep Isabel alive long enough… and not be discovered… help is on the way. But will Max and the other rescuers get there in time… or will they simply be too late to do anything but mourn when they finally get there? And are Liz and Alex really as helpless as their persecutors believe them to be?**


	60. Rath59

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Split-tail Turkey**

**Chapter 59**

**LVIX **

**Jim tossed the two big birds down on the porch at Kathleen's feet, and Kathleen stared at the odd-looking, round, feathered creatures with long, split tails. **

**"What are those, Jim?"**

**"Turkeys."**

**"No, no, no…" Kathleen said, shaking her head emphatically. "Max said there are no turkeys on Antar. Besides, those aren't turkeys. I know turkeys when I see them, and that's… not them! Those aren't anything I've ever seen before, Jim."**

**"Well, I guess they're Antarian turkeys, Kath. Alien turkeys would look different, wouldn't they?"**

**Kathleen hesitated, as she looked at the huge birds. They were roughly the size of turkeys… maybe a little bigger. And they were fat and had turkey-like feathers… but the tail was about four feet long… and split into two halves. And the head was odd-looking. It sort of looked like a turkey's head… except for the color… and the fire-red eyes.**

**"If there were such a thing as an Antarian turkey, I guess this might be what one would look like," Kathleen conceded.**

**"Well, there you go, Kath! We can invite the gang over for Thanksgiving dinner!"**

**"Are these edible, Jim?"**

**Jim shrugged. "We'll find out."**

**Kathleen's eyebrows went up a couple of inches. "Maybe you'd better let Varec test one of them first, Jim. You wouldn't want to poison all our guests."**

**"Well, there won't be that many guests, Kath. Max and Liz, Michael and Maria, and a few others will be on their way to Earth in some other dimension by tomorrow… to save their… alternate selves or something."**

**"Well… you don't want to poison ME, do you," Kathleen said emphatically.**

**Jim smiled. "Actually, Hon, Varec's assistant already checked them out for me. They're edible… and nutritious, she says."**

**"Okay," Kathleen said hesitantly, "but how do they taste?"**

**Jim shrugged. "There's got to be SOME mystery in life, Kath. Call the others… whoever's still left in this dimension… Tell them we're having Thanksgiving dinner here at the ranch. The entrée is… uh… Antarian… Nan-Torel split-tail turkey."**

**Kathleen shook her head and picked one of the birds up by the feet. "I don't want to guess who's going to pluck these."**

**"I'll give you a hand," Jim said. **

**"Soooo gallant of you," Kathleen replied with a grin. "You know, eating a lot of turkey always put me to sleep. It's that enzyme or amino acid that's in turkey meat… tryptophan… I hope these birds don't have that…" Kathleen looked at the huge birds again and sighed. "And I hope they'll fit in my oven!"**

**Thanksgiving Day**

**At the Valenti ranch, Jim finished setting the last plate on the table then walked to the door to answer yet another knock.**

**"Michael! Maria! I thought when we called… you guys said you were leaving for Dimension Why this morning."**

**"Dimension Y," Michael corrected. "Yeah, we were, but the guys over at the lab needed a few more hours to get the ship ready, and we heard you were cooking."**

**Jim grinned. "Yep! You heard right. Come on in. Are Max and Liz comin', too?"**

**"They may. Max was still hanging around the hangar watching them prep the new granolith, but I've got a feeling they'll be here."**

**"Kind of a last meal before the trip, huh?"**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah, a last meal for awhile among friends anyway. Little R2-D2 cooks up some pretty good meals on the ship, but he's poor company."**

**Kathleen walking into the room at that moment with a crock pot full of something that looked like mashed potatoes. "R2-D2? Is that what you named the little service droid on the new granolith now?"**

**Maria laughed. "No, that's just what Michael calls him. We really should name him. He's like part of the crew. Come to think of it, we really should name the ship. What kind of name is 'new granolith?' It's not even a name… it's just a description or something."**

**Jim nodded. "A name for the ship would be a good thing… The 'Antar I' or something.**

**"Yeah, something original, though… and cool," Maria said.**

**As they spoke, Kyle and Jeliya walked into the room. "Michael! Maria! You guy's late getting off on your trip?"**

**"Yeah," Michael replied with an acknowledging nod. "The space guys over at the lab needed a few more hours to finish stocking the ship and calculating the dimensional theory to get us where we're going in the other dimension." **

**"Well, I'm glad you could both join us," Kyle said, patting Michael on the back. "Alex and Isabel are out back with Mareeya and Ceelya petting the yoriths. I think Danyy's with them. Tess and Rayylar were around here somewhere with Jiba and Drel. They may have gone for a walk or they may be out back with Alex and Iz and their kids. And Taz is playing hide and seek with a few of the other children. Where's Kryys… and Jayyd… and Zorel?"**

**Michael laughed. "They saw Taz and the others and headed off to play with them till dinner's ready."**

**"Well, Danyy will keep them occupied," Kyle said. "His pawgor friend, Jung-Jo, is out there somewhere with his mate and their three babies. Only they're not babies anymore."**

**"Yeah, I know… I saw them a few days ago," Michael said. "They're like half grown already."**

**Kathleen came into the dining room at that moment and placed a very large platter on the table with Jim's help… "Well, guys, the dinner's ready. Get everyone inside and have the kids wash their hands and we can start."**

**"I'll round up the kids," Jim said. He stepped out the door onto the porch and yelled…**

**"DINNER'S READY! ANYONE NOT IN THE HOUSE IN TWO MINUTES GOES HUNGRY."**

**Within seconds, children came running… and right behind them were a number of parents.**

**"Have a seat at the table everyone… after you've washed your face and hands," he added in the direction of the kids. Several children ran off toward the bathrooms, followed by a few of the parents. Soon, everyone was seated around the table, but before they could begin, there was another knock on the door. Jim went to answer it.**

**"Max!" Jim said with a big smile, as he opened the door. "And Liz… Gee, I'm sorry, guys… You're late. We finished everything off already. I wish you could have been here. It was delicious!"**

**"Oh, that's okay," Liz said politely, shaking her head. "We just came over to join in the celebrating before we go… while they're finishing up with the ship."**

**Max looked a little disappointed, but he smiled and agreed with Liz. Jim grinned and opened the door all the way.**

**"Get in here. We're just getting started. I was pullin' your leg. We've got a couple of chairs already pulled up to the table for you."**

**Jim seated Max and Liz then took his own seat at the head of the table.**

**"Would you cut the turkey for us, Jim," Kathleen asked. Jim smiled and picked up the carving knife and began to slice off different portions for each person according to his or her request.**

**"Smells good," Tess said. "I can't wait to see how it tastes." She picked her fork up and started to take a bite, but then she noticed that Jim seemed to be watching her.**

**"Oh… I'm sorry. Was I supposed to wait… or something?"**

**"No, no!" Kathleen replied reassuringly. "Jim just was wondering how you would like it."**

**"Oh." Tess nodded and put the fork into her mouth. Then she closed her eyes.**

**"Mmmm! It's delicious!" She took another bite. "I think this is really the best turkey I've ever had, Kathleen! Where did you find these on Antar? Did you bring them from Earth, Jim, like last year… with the sphere?"**

**"Nope," Jim replied. "Got 'em right here on Antar."**

**"I didn't know there were turkeys on Antar," Tess said.**

**"Well, maybe not if you're not at least three miles inside the Nan-Torel," Jim replied with a grin. "These are Antarian Nan-Torel split-tail turkeys." **

**"I never heard of them," Tess said, taking another bite. "But they're the best thing I think I've ever tasted on Antar!" She wiped her mouth and smiled. "And Antarian food is pretty good."**

**With that high praise, everyone began to eat, and soon the table was buzzing with agreement regarding the culinary value of Jim's "turkeys."**

**"I've got to hand it to you, Jim," Max said. "I think anything I wanted, I could probably send you into the Nan-Torel, and you would find it."**

**There was some laughter and a lot of nodding heads.**

**"Well, here's to Jim… and to Jim's turkeys," Dan Klein said, raising a glass of jubish.**

**"Yeah! Hear! Hear!" several others echoed, as everyone else raised their glasses in agreement. **

**Soon, the guests were all actively enjoying the abundant dishes of badas, grelliats, guma, and all the split-tail turkey they could eat, washing everything down with jubish, Cherry Coke, or Snapple laced with Tabasco sauce. Seated at another table, the children seemed to be enjoying the food as much as their parents, especially the amazing Nan-Torel split-tail turkey. Clearly, this dinner was going to go down as a major success, and no one could have been more pleased about it than Jim. After dinner, Kathleen served the traditional Antarian flaming flan, japo-mevanish, with Jaht-roo cookies; and those who wanted, had an after dinner cup of real Earth coffee that Jim had stashed away from his last trip to Earth.**

**"That was delicious," Alex said. "Kathleen, you are the greatest! You can cook for me anytime!"**

**Kathleen smiled. "Thank you, Alex! You're so kind."**

**"Yes, he is," Isabel said, looking up toward the ceiling.**

**"Iz, what in the world are you looking for," Michael asked. Isabel smiled, seeming unoffended by the apparent bluntness of Michael's question.**

**"Stars," she replied simply with a giddy smile.**

**"Well, shouldn't you be outside then?"**

**Isabel shook her head. "Nope." She looked at Alex then reached up and appeared to take something from the air and place it into Alex's hand. Alex opened his hand and looked.**

**"It's beautiful, Iz!"**

**"What?" Michael said. "I don't see anything."**

**"The star," Isabel said. "I reached up and got a star and gave it to Alex." Isabel kissed Alex lightly on the lips.**

**At the children's table, Zorel looked at Kryys, and his eyes widened. Kryys smiled back and looked amused. Mareeya, Ceelya, and the other children all smiled.**

**Then Max began to laugh.**

**"What's so funny?" Michael asked. "No one told a joke."**

**Max shook his head then broke out laughing again. He looked at Liz. **

**"I was thinking how beautiful you are, Liz."**

**Liz smiled and leaned over to give Max a kiss.**

**"And that's funny?" Michael asked with a puzzled expression.**

**"Yeah," Diane Klein replied for Max. "I understand Max." She leaned over and kissed Dan, who kissed her back rather passionately.**

**"Okay, that's enough for me," Zorel said. "I'm going out to play with Danyy. This is getting to be weird! A guy could die from all this sweetness!" He looked at the other children, but most of them just giggled as they watched Dan kiss Diane.**

**"Do you see the stars?" Isabel asked, pointing toward the ceiling. "They're everywhere! They're so beautiful! I can reach out and touch them."**

**"They're all for you," Alex said. Isabel smiled and kissed Alex again.**

**"I see them, too," Tess whispered. **

**"I don't see anything," her husband, Rayylar, said with a puzzled look. "I don't either," Kyle's wife, Jeliya, said, searching in the air for something that she felt must be there in spite of her inability to see it.**

**"Reach up and you'll touch them," Tess said.**

**"Well, I didn't see them before," Jim said, "but now I do. Whoa! They'd make great target practice!"**

**Kathleen giggled then began to laugh.**

**"I didn't think that was funny at all," Michael said. "I don't even see any stars. Stars! Stars! Where are you? Come out so I can see you!"**

**Kathleen grabbed Jim and pushed him down into his chair then sat across his lap. "The only target practice you're getting, Jimbo, is with me." She smiled and planted a big kiss on his lips, as Max began to laugh again.**

**"WHAT?" Michael asked.**

**"I have x-ray vision!" Max said. "I can see through Liz's clothes! I can see through everyone's clothes." Michael looked at Max, at first with a look of disbelief, then with a look of amusement.**

**"Well, why didn't you say so!" Michael started to laugh, too.**

**"Do you have x-ray vision, too, Michael?" **

**Michael shook his head then dissolved into laughter again. "No. I just think it's so funny that you do, Max. That's a riot!"**

**Maria pulled at Michael's arm. "Let's dance, cosmic lover! Jim's singing for everyone." She pulled Michael out into the middle of the floor, and they began to dance. Michael smiled and buried the side of his face in Maria's hair, as he gave himself up to the moment with Maria.**

**Kathleen sat watching Jim sing, with a look of immense approval on her face.**

**"Do you like Jim's music," she asked Diane sitting beside her. Diane nodded.**

**"It's all colors," Kathleen said. "The notes are different colors when they come out of his mouth. Some of them are blue… some of them are red… and some of them are pure golden. If I catch them, I can rearrange them and make a new song."**

**Diane nodded. "They're beautiful, Kath! I really love Jim's singing! Don't you, Dan?"**

**Dan nodded. "I wish I could sing in colors."**

**Diane kissed Dan again. "There are plenty of things I love about you, Dan Klein! You don't need to sing, too."**

**Rayylar seemed to be the only one who noticed that someone was knocking on the door. He walked to the door and opened it and found Varec standing there.**

**"Rayylar, Can I come in? I need to tell Zan something before he… before they… Oh, oh…"**

**"What's going on, Varec?" Rayylar asked.**

**Varec breathed a deep sigh, as he looked around the room. Max and Liz were wrapped in each other's arms on the sofa, Kyle seemed to have similar ideas with Jeliya nearby, Michael and Maria were lost in their dance, Kathleen sat enraptured as Jim sang love songs, Dan and Diane seemed to have found a corner to cuddle in, Alex and Isabel were catching stars for each other… between kisses, and Tess was attached to Rayylar's arm like a tattoo.**

**"Well, maybe it's not as bad as I thought," Varec said. "My assistant made a slight mistake. She told Jim that his 'turkey' was safe to eat. It is safe, of course, if one is Antarian. But she did not take into consideration the differences of alien physiology."**

**"In other words," Rayylar said, "I'm the only one who's normal right now… me and Jeliya? I thought it was some kind of odd Earth celebration ritual. I was afraid to say anything."**

**"Well…" Varec looked at the amused children, "the children should be okay… and you two. They were all born here, so they shouldn't have any unusual effects from eating the birds Jim caught. But Earth physiology, in particular, is… a bit different. I'm afraid anyone with Earth DNA who wasn't born here would experience some kind of symptoms."**

**Rayylar motioned around the room. "Like these symptoms?"**

**"Maybe," Varec said. "Euphoria, giddiness, intoxication, possible hallucinations…"**

**"Will they be okay?"**

**Varec nodded. "It'll wear off by the end of the day… or I could give them each one of the antidote shots I brought with me." He looked around the room again and smiled slightly.**

**"Why don't we just let it wear off naturally, huh, Rayylar?"**

**Rayylar looked at Tess wrapped around his arm like a tourniquet and sighed, then he nodded. "Yeah, I guess you and I can watch the children for a few hours, Varec."**

**Two hours later, the room was basically quiet. The children had been sent back out to play. Max was asleep on the sofa with Liz lying on top of him. Her head rested on Max's chest, and she was asleep, too, smiling. Michael and Maria had slowly collapsed onto the floor, bringing their dance to an end. Both were asleep on the floor. Michael's arms were still around Maria, and both appeared to be in some very pleasant place judging from the smiles on their faces. Elsewhere around the room, the scene was repeated, with each couple seeming to be blissfully off in some land of happy dreams together. Though unaffected herself, Jeliya, lying on a sofa with Kyle's arms wrapped around her, had decided to just go with it. Rayylar looked at Varec and shook his head.**

**"Who knew. Crazy alien physiology. I wonder how long they'll sleep." Varec shrugged.**

**Liz smiled and hugged Kathleen then gave Jim a kiss on the cheek, as they accompanied Max and Liz to the door.**

**"That was… amazing," Liz said, her face turning a little red in spite of herself. "I don't think I've ever had a dinner quite like that, Kath. It was very, very… tasty." Liz hesitated as she thought for a moment. "Enjoy those leftovers, Jim. Looks like you're going to be eating Nan-Torel turkey sandwiches for the next week at least."**

**Jim's eyes opened wide, then he half smiled as he looked around the room quickly… "Uh, Rayylar! Come here, buddy! You liked the turkey, didn't you?"**

**"Yeah, it was delicious!"**

**"Well, look, why don't you and Tess take the rest of it home and have it for leftovers."**

**"Are you sure?"**

**Kathleen nodded. "We're sure, Rayylar. If we ever eat split-tail turkey again, Jim will have to arrest us both."**

**"I thought you enjoyed it," Rayylar said. **

**Kathleen turned slightly red. "I did… we did! Maybe a bit too much. You take it, Rayylar. **

**Rayylar looked at Tess for a moment then looked back at Kathleen and smiled. "Well, okay… Maybe Jeliya and Kyle would like to take some of it home, too…"**

**Jeliya looked at Kyle and broke into a grin. Rayylar smiled. "I thought so."**

**Rayylar and Jeliya took the rest of the cut up turkey, thanked Jim and Kathleen, and left for their own homes. After the others had all gone, too, Jim sat down in his chair and leaned back with a sigh.**

**"That was fun, Kath. Want to do it again next year?"**

**Kathleen smiled and shook her head.**

**"I think everyone had a great time today, Kath. They seemed to be enjoying themselves."**

**"Yeah," Kathleen agreed. "They did enjoy themselves. No doubt about that."**

**"And they loved the food, too," Jim said. "Everyone said that the turkey tasted great."**

**Kathleen nodded. "It was good."**

**Jim picked up his copy of the Antar News and flipped the Video screen on.**

**"We've got a lot to be thankful for, Kath… you know? Good friends, health, a place where we can live and not be constantly harassed by neurotic, paranoid alien hunters… Odd, isn't it? Here we are actually on an alien planet… and we're free, our kids are free, we're all happy, everyone's our friend… while on our own planet we were hunted down and almost killed by our own species. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?"**

**Kathleen nodded. "Yeah, I've thought about it a lot. I was one of those paranoid, neurotic alien hunters."**

**Jim smiled. "But you got your alien, Kath."**

**"Yeah, I guess I did," Kathleen agreed, sitting down on Jim's lap and giving him a kiss. "I hope this is not too much torture for you."**

**Jim grinned. "I think I can bear it."**

**"By the way, Kath, what's for supper tonight?"**

**Kathleen smiled. "Turkey soup."**

**tbc**

**Coming next: The plan continues to rescue Liz, Alex, and the others from Earth, and Jim is convinced to go along on the mission.**


	61. Rath60

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Rescuers**

**Chapter 60**

**LX **

**Eight hours had passed since Max and the others had begun to wake up from their stupor after partaking of Jim's unusual Thanksgiving Day Nan-Torel split-tail turkey dinner. The "turkey," which was entirely harmless to full-Antarians and to anyone else born on Antar, had rendered the "earthlings," including Kyle, Alex, Max, Isabel, Michael, Amy, and Tess, along with Jim and Kathleen and Dan and Diane, effectively unable to think of anything but love… then sleep. Kyle's wife, Jeliya, and Tess' husband, Rayylar, who were full Antarians and therefore unaffected by the turkey, had decided to just go with the flow and enjoy their mates' affectionate "condition" while it lasted. In fact, Jeliya and Rayylar had gladly accepted leftovers to take home with them when Kathleen had offered them some. **

**Perhaps the most surprising thing, though, was that, unlike with drugs or alcohol, once the effects of the turkey had worn off, everyone had awakened clear-minded and feeling refreshed rather than with the expected hangover or headache. Max had been the first to awaken. He had panicked when he realized what had happened, thinking that a considerable amount of time had been lost while they were sleeping off their unusual dinner. He was relieved to learn that only a few hours had passed and they were still on schedule. After a bit of laughing and joking about what had happened, the guests had all freshened up and prepared to return to their own homes. Those going with Max and Michael to earth had said their good-byes to the others and had quickly gathered up their belongings… **

**Max had turned to Jim again… "Jim, you really should come with us to earth. I don't know why, but I have a feeling you might be needed."**

**Jim had smiled and shook his head. "You don't need me, Max. You just think you do. I'm sure there's nothing on earth that you and Michael can't handle together. Besides, you're going to an entirely different dimension. You know how freaky it was to me just to leave earth and come here!"**

**"Yeah, but you'd be going back to earth," Michael replied. "You know earth already. It's not an alien planet to you."**

**"It's a different dimension… that's alien enough."**

**"Suit yourself," Max said.**

**Now Jim was sitting in his favorite chair reading the Antar News, and his guests were gone. He was alone with Kathleen and Danyy, his younger son, who was playing with his pawgor friends out in the yard. Jim looked up and started to say something, but then he looked back at his newspaper.**

**"What were you going to say, Jim?"**

**"Aw, it was nothing, Kath."**

**"Must have been something. You seem to have something on your mind."**

**Jim folded his newspaper up and laid it beside the chair.**

**"Do you think I should have gone with them, Kath… to earth… in that Dimension Y or whatever Varec named it?"**

**"That would have to be your decision," Kathleen said. "We'd miss you here… but if you felt like they needed you…"**

**"Well, see, that's just it, Kath. I don't know what I'm feeling. It's gnawing at me. I don't know why they'd need me. Max and Michael are quite able to take care of themselves… They don't need me to follow them around and change their diapers. But… something in the back of my mind keeps gnawing at me. Maybe it's some kind of premonition, I don't know."**

**"Premonitions can be pretty powerful, Jim. I know. Usually, there's a reason for them. Maybe it's because we know something in our minds that we don't want to admit, I don't know, or maybe it's a psychic thing or something." She smiled. "Maybe your turkey made you psychic, Jim."**

**"That turkey made me a fool," Jim said with an embarrassed laugh.**

**"Don't be so hard on yourself, Jim. It was a hit. Next year I'll bet they'll all be begging you to have it again."**

**"And listen to me sing love songs to you again?"**

**Kathleen laughed. "You have a great voice, Jim. I loved it! So did they."**

**"They were drunker than I thought," Jim said with a grin. "But they did, didn't they?"**

**Kathleen nodded.**

**"Well… we'll see about next year next year. What do I do about this premonition?"**

**                                       ************

**Max looked over the list of supplies and the list of maintenance items that had been done and checked off each item with Varec, as the chief foreman announced that it had been done and checked out. It appeared that everything was in good shape and the new granolith was ready to fly again. Max breathed a deep sigh.**

**"I don't know why, Michael… but I love this ship! With the spheres, we can go almost anywhere instantly nowadays… without much danger. I thought we might never have a chance to use the new granolith again. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of looking forward to this."**

**Michael smiled. "I know. We have had a lot of good times on this baby, haven't we?"**

**Max grinned, and Michael looked back at the ship, his own eyes reflecting more than a bit of admiration for the mammoth vessel that had ferried them to Antar and back to earth several times.**

**"You'll have twelve days for you and Liz to enjoy the arboretum again," Michael added with a wry grin.**

**Max cast Michael a sideways glance and smiled slightly. "And I suppose you and Maria were studying the stars all the time up there in the observatory… with Zorel guarding the door…"**

**Michael shrugged. "Something like that."**

**Max smiled a knowing smile. "And that rumor about naked mermaids in the pool under the waterfall…"**

**"I wouldn't know anything about that, Max."**

**"Jim's Nan-Torel turkey wiped your memory out?"**

**"That was probably it."**

**"I thought so."**

**"But, hey, Max, with Alex and Iz onboard, you know, I practically have to book the observatory several days in advance for Maria and me to get a chance to use it."**

**"Well, you know how they are about the stars and all, Michael."**

**"Um hm. Believe me! I know what's going on up there. The stars aren't the only things being studied in there, Max. There's a lot of hands on science going on when Alex and Iz are in there together."**

**"You're a dirty old man, Michael."**

**"I resent that! I'm not old! Besides, I'm right."**

**"Okay, you're a right dirty old man… or young man… whatever."**

**"Ah ha! You admit it then!"**

**"That you're a dirty old man? Sure."**

**"No, that Alex and Iz… you know."**

**"And Maria's just tutoring you in astronomy when you guys are up there, right?"**

**"Could be."**

**"Or could NOT be," Max said with a grin. "Don't play the innocent, Michael. I know you. What do you want?"**

**"Well… a little more time in the observatory would be nice. Maybe you could help me convince Alex and Iz that there are other places on the ship just as… cozy."**

**Max smiled. "You'll just have to get there first, Michael. Besides, you and Maria have something to fall back on if the observatory's occupied… you're mermaids. Well… she's a mermaid. I guess you'd be the creature from the black lagoon."**

**Michael grabbed Max by the throat and pretended to strangle him. "Well, if that's what you want swimming around in the arboretum pool…" He grinned and turned to walk away. **

**Max stood for a moment, thinking about what Michael had said. Then he shook his head.**

**"No… No, I'm not getting into this. But that was a damn good argument, Michael!"**

**Max turned around to see Jim Valenti standing there.**

**"You still got room for one more, Max?"**

**Max nodded and gave Jim a friendly slap on the arm. Decided to join us, huh?"**

**"Yeah, I just keep having this feeling that you guys will need me."**

**"Well, I told you that, Jim."**

**"Yeah, I know. But you know I never listen to that kind of stuff, Max."**

**"So why'd you listen now?"**

**"I wasn't going to… Call it premonition or something." **

**"Okay. Call it what you want, Jim. I'm just glad to have you onboard. You coming alone?"**

**"Yeah, Kath is staying here with Danyy. What about your kids… and Liz?"**

**"Liz and Maria are coming; the children aren't. We don't know what we might come up against. The palace staff and Kyle and Jeliya are watching them all while we're away. Alex and Isabel are coming. Tess and Rayylar are coming, too…"**

**"So… you're totally okay with Tess being around now, Max?"**

**Max shrugged. "Why shouldn't I be? Those things happened a long time ago… in a timeline that doesn't exist anymore. It took me a long time to fully realize that, but I think I do now. I have to judge people for who they are in this life. Besides, Tess has been a big help on our other trips. She probably saved all our lives that time in the mountains. And her abilities can be very useful."**

**"I can't argue with that."**

**Varec waved at Max from the entrance to the ship. Max waved back. **

**"We're ready to take off, Jim. Let's go onboard. I think everyone else is onboard already."**

**Max took the ascension chamber up to the control deck, where he found Michael preparing for their departure. Max sat down in the pilot's seat and held his hand over a handprint on the control panel for a moment. It began to glow. Michael, in the co-pilot's seat, held his hand over another handprint, and it began to glow, too. Then he inserted a crystal into a pre-formed slot on the control panel, and the huge ship began to rise. The roof of the mammoth hangar-lab had already been rolled back to allow the ship to depart, which was no small operation. The ship measured 178,403 donish, about 15,800 feet –not quite three miles- across and was seven stories high, and the hangar had to be large enough to house it. It always took the better part of an hour just to roll the roof open to allow the ship to depart. The roof opened in concentric sections, like the lens of a camera, each section retracting perfectly into its own individual compartment in the rim. **

**Now, with the roof fully opened, the ship floated out, rising into the sky above. As it rose, it rotated eighty degrees and began to move forward, turning out over the Golden Sea. The silvery metallic saucer glinted in the sunlight as it made its way gracefully toward the heavens… first slowly… then with a sudden burst of speed that left a beautiful converging contrail of starlight disappearing into the cosmos.**

**Below the contrail several large birds circled and appeared to interact with some slipstream fighters, small jets that always gave an escort to the Antarian mother ship whenever it left Antarian soil. The birds, with thirty-foot wingspans, were actually slightly larger than the small jet planes that the pilot escorts flew, but the pilots were used to seeing these birds now. The seven pilots all fell into formation, each pilot gave one final salute toward the mother ship, which by now had disappeared into space, then they pulled back on their yokes, sending their jets streaking upward, each one splitting off and falling over like the fire falling from a sparkler. Then they streaked off toward their home base. **

**The birds, which were once believed to be a myth in Antar, before Max befriended one, circled one final time, offering their own special good-bye to the ship… and to Max in particular. Onboard the ship, far out in space, Max smiled. He and the jah-ee communicated telepathically…**

**"Thank you, my friends. I will return. I promise." **

**tbc**

**Coming: The ship attempts to break through the dimensional barriers, leading to some unexpectedly frightening moments. Onboard the new granolith, the "rescuers" wonder if they will ever get the chance to give that help… or if they'll ever see Antar again.**


	62. Rath61

 The Four Faces of Rath 

**Romance On The Dimensional Rift**

**Chapter 61**

**LXI **

**Max set the controls on automatic and sat back to relax for awhile with Liz at his side. The fact is, Varec had preprogrammed the ship to traverse the dimensions and find earth in the dimension that he had named the "Y Dimension" automatically. However, Max still preferred to be at the controls… if for no other reason than to monitor the ship's progress and make sure that everything was on track and running smoothly. **

**There was a time to monitor the ship's progress, though… and there was a time for more personal pursuits. With everything on track and running like a Swiss watch, Max leaned back and smiled at Liz.**

**"Everything okay?" Liz asked.**

**Max nodded. "With the ship it is."**

**Liz sat down on Max's lap and kissed him.**

**"How about now?"**

**Max gave Liz a half smile, "Yeah… I think some additional systems just came on line. You want to try again?"**

**Liz put her lips against Max's and opened her mouth slightly, savoring his lips and mouth as though they were her favorite candy… which, as a matter of fact, they probably were. At the same time, she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hand over his chest. She placed the other hand behind his head, enjoying the feel of Max's hair between her fingers as she allowed herself to be lost in the passion of their kiss. After several minutes, Liz stopped and looked at Max again with a smile…**

**"How about now?"**

**Max nodded and caught his breath. "Oh Yeah! Now everything is up and running! All systems are now… definitely operational! You can count on it! Whew!"**

**Liz smiled and put her arms around Max's neck then pressed her lips to his again. Outside their window, the stars flew by in the darkness of space, as Liz pulled Max out of his seat onto the floor with her.**

**"How about the warp drive, Max? Shall we test it out, too… just to be sure?"**

**In other parts of the ship, things were also going well… perhaps monotonously well. Michael had finished playing a game of Jaht Roo with Jim and had beat Jim handily… again. Jim was actually getting pretty good at playing Jaht Roo and was able to give Michael a real run for his money these days. It was a tribute to Jim's expertise that Michael would play him at all. Still, Jim had never been able to beat Michael at the game. Only Max… and occasionally Varec… had ever been able to beat Michael at Jaht Roo. **

**Michael had taken to the strategic elements of Jaht Roo like a fish to water. It was his game. But in spite of this, he still could only beat Max or Varec about half the time. Max had a sharpness of concentration and ability to make fast mental computations that made him hard to beat, and Varec had a scientific mind that lent itself to complex computations and unusual gambits… ways to win that no one else had ever thought of before and that were therefore hard to defend against. Michael had spent a lot of hours dissecting and analyzing Varec's unusual "moves." More often than not, though, Varec himself did not remember exactly what he had done. He simply responded to each move as a new challenge, coming up with radical and new responses each time. It was this fact that made him so hard to beat.**

**"Looks like I'm gonna need to change my clothes," Jim said, standing up and wiping some of the light sugary dough off his shirt. **

**In the game of Jaht Roo, the players make strategic moves with small "space ship" playing pieces made of sugar dough. If a player miscalculates and lands on a claimed or mined space, his ship might be blown up by a puff of air from beneath the table, usually resulting in someone… or everyone… getting candy-cottony jaht roo strands on themselves.**

**Michael smiled a satisfied smile. "Yeah, you got kind of blasted when I blew those last ships up. But if you don't want to have those clothes washed, you could probably just eat 'em now… They're sugar coated."**

**Jim stuck his finger in his mouth and nodded. "Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Good idea!" **

**Michael grinned. He knew Jim was kidding, but the image of Jim eating his shirt made him smile anyway.**

**Walking in the door just as Michael and Jim were finishing their game, Maria sat down in Michael's lap and kissed him.**

**"How'd your game go?"**

**Michael gave her that patented half grin that meant, "What do you think?"**

**"I take it you won."**

**Michael nodded. "Was there ever any other possibility?"**

**"You might lose someday."**

**"To Jim? No way! He's good… but he'll never be as good as me. D'you see his clothes," Michael asked with a chuckle.**

**Maria reached over and plucked a small stray sugar strand from Michael's face then stuck it in her mouth and closed her lips slowly over her finger. "Mmmmmm. Too bad you didn't lose. I could have helped you get some of that sugar off."**

**Michael's smile disappeared. "Well… you know… yeah… now that you mention it, I think I did get some on me." Michael quickly dropped some strands of the cotton-candyish sugar dough on himself, hoping Maria wouldn't notice…**

**"See… right here… and here… and…"**

**"Maybe we'd better go clean that off somewhere more… private," Maria said.**

**Michael nodded and swallowed. "Yeah… yeah, I was thinking the same thing, too."**

**                                      ************

**Michael knocked once on the observatory door then grinned. "Looks like we're in luck! Alex and Isabel haven't got here yet. It's all ours."**

**Maria smiled, as Michael quickly scrawled, "Observatory closed for temporary repairs" on a piece of paper and stuck it on the door. Then he picked Maria up and carried her inside, laying her down on the oversized Antarian sofa by the back wall. The observatory had long been a favorite "make-out" place for several of the couples, but especially for Alex and Isabel and for Michael and Maria, because the huge dome gave a feeling of oneness with the universe. From inside the observatory, one could watch the bright stars go by in the darkness of space with no visible roof overhead.**

**Michael laid himself down on the sofa beside Maria and kissed her, enjoying the moist, soft warmth of her lips on his and the soft feel of her hair as it caressed his face.**

**Maria looked up at the stars rushing by overhead and sighed.**

**"I've missed this place. You know, Michael, sometimes I wish no one had ever found those spheres. With them, we never get to go anywhere in the ship anymore. I really love this ship!"**

**"Yeah, me too…" Michael said, running his hand gently over Maria's face and up into her hair. "It's like the Love Boat of the cosmos or something… it's a vacation just being onboard."  
  
**

**Maria smiled and pressed her face against Michael's hand, enjoying his gentle touch. "Yeah… I guess that's it. It's relaxing." She kissed Michael again. "And it's romantic."**

**"Well… you've gotta have the perfect partner, of course," Michael said with a grin.**

**"Of course," Maria agreed, smiling. "That's why it's so perfect for us."**

**Michael grinned and kissed Maria again.**

**"Now where were those strands of jaht roo sugar you got on you," Maria asked playfully. "I'm feeling like some candy… and I've got a real sweet-tooth coming on. I'm afraid there might not be much left of you after I get through, Michael."**

**"It's a price I'm willing to pay," Michael said breathlessly, "to keep you satisfied, Darling."**

**Maria placed her lips over one of the strands of sugar dough that Michael had dropped on his clothes and ran her tongue in slow circles over it, removing the sugary substance; and Michael closed his eyes and ran his hands down Maria's back, locating and releasing the most immediate impediment to his desires. Then he took the matter of Maria's happiness into his own capable hands, as he caressed her body with kisses.**

**                                      ************

**Alex and Isabel arrived at the observatory to find a hand-scrawled note stuck on the door. Isabel pulled it off and read it.**

**"Oh, great!"**

**"Well, if it's out of order, we can go somewhere else," Alex said.**

**"It's not out of order. That's Michael's writing. He's in there with Maria."**

**"Well, let's go to the arboretum then… or the gardens," Alex suggested. "Let Michael and Maria use the observatory for awhile."**

**"Oh! You don't understand, Alex."**

**"What's to understand, Iz? It's a public place. Anybody can use it."**

**"Yeah but… it's our place, Alex… That's always been our personal love retreat… Michael's turning it into a… a… a Nookie nook!"**

**Alex laughed. "What's that?"**

**"You know…" Isabel said… "He's just in there for… a little nookie."**

**"Yeah… so?"**

**"We come here to enjoy our love together, Alex. It's totally different. If they're gonna use it all the time, we might as well put a sign on the door that says, 'Guerin's Nookie Nook! Enter at your own risk!'"**

**Alex nodded. "Well, I'll tell you what, Iz… There's a deep, warm pond up in the gardens with a nice waterfall… and I think it has Alex and Isabel written all over it."**

**Isabel smiled. "Yeah… Yeah! It does, doesn't it!" Then her smile disappeared again.**

**"Wait a minute, that's the pond Michael and Maria were swimming in… naked."**

**"That was on the last trip, Iz… It was a long time ago. They changed the water since then."**

**Isabel smiled again. "Yeah! Okay! Let's go there then." Isabel and Alex got back into the glass ascension chamber and headed for the gardens.**

**                                         ************

**Isabel stood on the rocks above the waterfall and dropped her skirt seductively behind her, watching Alex, as he watched her from below. Then, wearing nothing but the smile on her face, she dove over the falls into the pond. **

**The garden pond was at least half again as long as an Olympic swimming pool and easily twice as wide. It had a sandy bottom that tapered off naturally to a depth of about thirty feet near the falls. The falls themselves had been created by directing the flow of water over some large rocks from a height of around fifteen feet. Behind the falls, Michael had discovered a sandy nook, like a small cave, that provided privacy and shelter from prying eyes, in case anyone came in unexpectedly. Isabel and Alex, however, were unaware of this niche, and Michael had not mentioned it to anyone else, preferring to keep it as his and Maria's little secret.**

**Isabel swam beneath the water to the rocks where Alex was sitting. One moment, Alex was relaxing with his feet dangling in the warm water… the next moment he was being pulled in with a hand around his ankle. Alex sputtered and made his way back to the surface.**

**"I still have my clothes on, Iz! Now they're soaked."**

**"I guess you'll have to take 'em off and let 'em dry then," Isabel said with a twinkle in her eye. She helped Alex strip out of his shirt, then his pants, tossing them onto the rocks where Alex had, until a moment ago, been sitting. Then she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips to his. Still holding the kiss, Alex wrapped his arms around Isabel in turn, as they sank slowly together to the sandy bottom below.**

**                                           ************

**Meanwhile, on the ship's bridge, Max and Liz were still "testing the warp drive" (just to be sure). Liz never knew why she opened her eyes at that particular moment… maybe she perceived a shadow… maybe it was a feeling she had… maybe it was merely coincidence. But what she saw was not what she ever expected to see. The room was filled with stars. Well… not real stars… Real stars would have been much too large to fit inside the room. But something was floating all around the room with them, rushing in through the walls from the front of the ship and out through the back.**

**Liz tried to get Max's attention, which was a bit of a challenge, as his mind was running full speed on one track at the moment. Persistence paid off, though, in the end.**

**"What? Is something wrong?"**

**"Max, I'm seeing stars."**

**Max smiled. "Yeah? Me, too."**

**"No, Max, I mean like real stars… or something. Not real stars, but… there's something in the air in here."**

**"Did Jim bring some of that turkey onboard?"**

**"Get real, Max. Look! See for yourself!"**

**Max turned over and looked around the room. At first, he almost wasn't sure where he was. The room seemed to be full of little bright stars flying by… and the walls seemed to be… dissolving.**

**Max jumped up quickly, his mind suddenly returning to full duty as the adrenaline began to pump.**

**"Call Varec up here, Liz… on the com. Something weird's going on… This doesn't look right. Varec never said anything about the ship disintegrating around us on this trip."**

**For a moment, Liz stood there, eyes wide, watching the stars float around her; and to Max, for just a moment, it appeared that Liz was outside the ship, in the vacuum of space. But then Liz suddenly jumped and ran for the com.**

**"What the galaxies is happening, Liz? The ship is just disappearing! Liz?"**

**Max looked back. Liz was gone. So was that entire side of the ship where Liz had been. Max was staring into open space, as tiny starry lights rushed by him. It might have been beautiful… if he could have thought of beauty at this moment.**

**In the gardens, Isabel pushed away from the rocks at the side of the pool and swam back towards Alex under the water. For a moment, she had a feeling that the water was rushing by her, escaping to somewhere, and that she was being carried with it to wherever it was going. Looking through the haze of the water, Isabel would have sworn she saw Liz reaching for Max, then that she saw Jim Valenti, with a look on his face that strongly suggested that he was seeing something totally unexpected, too. As the stream continued to carry Isabel along, she thought she saw Michael and Maria in the observatory. But she couldn't be sure, because the water distorted her vision. After almost a full minute, the stream began to subside, and Isabel swam to the surface. To her great relief, Alex was there on the rocks looking for her.**

**In the observatory, Maria opened her eyes to find Michael lying beside her, his eyes wide, looking like he was in shock.**

**"Michael? Michael! Snap out of it! Hey, I know I give mind-boggling love, lover boy, but wake up here!"**

**Michael shook his head and blinked his eyes several times.**

**"Michael, what's the matter with you?"**

**Michael pointed upward, still in shock. **

**"I just saw Isabel swim by… naked."**

**Maria's mouth dropped open. "You were thinking about her while you were doing it with me!? OH! God, Michael! That is just so… Oh! That's like… incest or something! For God's sake, Michael, she's almost your sister!" **

**Maria was whacking Michael, but he didn't seem to be noticing.**

**"No, Maria! GEEZ! Get real, Maria! ISABEL? No! No way! No! I wasn't, like, thinking about her. I saw her! She swam by right over us… and she was naked as a bab…"**

**"Oh!" Maria jumped up from the sofa and threw one of the pillows at Michael. "You can't even make up a good story, Michael! If I was too much for you, you didn't have to make something up to get out of it!"**

**Michael was shaking his head emphatically. "No, really, Maria! I love you! I didn't want to stop. I just lost my concentration. If you'd seen what I saw, you would have, too. Believe me, Maria, I love you… just you… always." Michael wrapped his arms around Maria. "You're everything to me, Maria. I could never get tired of you." Michael kissed Maria lovingly, and in spite of her misgivings, she found herself melting into his arms again. **

**"Dammit! Isabel! She must have put that image in my mind somehow… with some kind of dreamwalk or something!"**

**"Why would Isabel do that?"**

**"Because we got the observatory before they did maybe. I don't know! I just saw her swimming over us, and… and… I lost it."**

**Maria gave Michael a pouty look. "Well, I can help you find it again."**

**Michael laid himself back down beside Maria. "Yeah… yeah… She's gone now… Hell, maybe I did imagine it all. Am I going crazy, Maria?"**

**"My love has been known to do that to men," Maria said with a pouty smile.**

**Michael smiled, too, knowing that Maria was teasing him. "Oh? And how many men would that be?"**

**"Oh, I don't know. I don't count anymore…"**

**Michael pounced on top of Maria. "Well, I'll have to make sure you don't forget ME then, huh? You won't, you know!"**

**"Prove it," Maria said, smiling again. **

**                                             ************

**The anomalies on the ship had by now subsided, and everything quickly returned to some semblance of normality. Max and Liz immediately consulted with Varec about what had happened, but for the most part, life on the new granolith returned to its usual pace. That evening, everyone gathered in the dining room for dinner as usual, and it was almost as though nothing had ever happened. Almost…**

**"Did anybody else experience anything… unusual about four hours ago," Max asked. "Liz and I saw little stars all around us."**

**Alex smiled knowingly. "What were you doing at the time, Max?"**

**"Don't get ahead of me, Alex. It wasn't like that." Max looked over at Liz. "Well… maybe it was, but that wasn't… I mean… there was something else going on. The walls seemed to dissolve and disappear all around us, and Liz looked like she was floating away in space."**

**"Do you know what caused it," Michael asked.**

**"We think we do… We're not sure. Varec said it was the result of passing through a dimensional rift into a new dimension at an improper angle. He's doing some recalculations."**

**Varec nodded.**

**"Did, uh, did anybody else see anything… unusual…" Isabel asked cautiously.**

**"Like what?" Michael asked.**

**Isabel smiled. "Oh, nothing. If you didn't see it, I guess there was nothing else to see."**

**"I guess not," Michael agreed. "Did you see anything, Jim?"**

**"Me? No, I didn't see anything… unusual."**

**Michael looked at Varec. Varec shook his head. "No… No, I didn't see anything."**

**Isabel breathed a sigh of relief and smiled then picked up her spoon and took a sip of her Grelligo soup.**

**"I'm curious, though," Varec said to Isabel. "Are many earth girls born with a picture of a little rose right here?" Varec pointed at his rear.**

**Michael snickered. "Is that what it was? I thought it was a birth mark."**

**"Naw, it was a rose," Jim said. "a little, tiny tattoo… Couldn't you tell?" **

**Isabel's head sank slowly down onto the table. Well, maybe it wasn't so bad. She could always kill everybody. And failing that… she could probably still eject herself from one of the air locks.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: A message from earth  **


	63. Rath62

The Four Faces of Rath 

**The Message**

**Chapter 62**

**LXII **

**Three days had passed since the unusual visual and physical disturbances that had shaken up the ship. After determining that the anomalies had been the result of the ship's passing through a dimensional rift at an improper angle, Varec recalculated their trajectory and compensated for the differences that the new trajectory would make in their voyage. So far, there had been no new anomalies that were of any major consequence, but there had been several "unusual" smaller occurrences.**

**It might be unfair, really, to call them "unusual." Traveling through dimensions was anything BUT "normal and usual" for Max and his fellow Antarian travelers, so everything about this trip could be deemed unusual… or nothing could be… No one could really be sure which. **

**Space itself was a good example. Though generally dark except for the light reflected from planetoids or given off by distant stars, space at the edge of a dimensional rift was often brilliant, exploding with lights and images that reminded the travelers of the Northern Lights seen on earth near the Arctic Circle. In fact, traveling through these "Northern Lights" of space often bordered on being a psychedelic experience. Varec had at first conjectured that the lights were the result of visual and brain disturbances caused by the magnetic and ionizing fields of the dimensional rifts themselves and did not actually exist at all; but after significant study on the effect, he had determined that the lights were indeed real.  **

**Another "odd" phenomenon that they had discovered was something that Varec aptly named the "Speed-Trajectory Ratio to Size factor." Only Varec -and Liz, once he explained it to her- actually seemed to understand it. Everyone else could see its effect, but the factors that caused it were simply beyond their comprehension. The STR-S factor, or "STARS factor," as Max and Michael started calling it euphemistically, had an unusual and initially disconcerting effect. Altering the speed and/or trajectory of the ship, especially as they traveled through a dimensional rift, seemed to increase or decrease the actual physical size of the ship… and with it, of course, everyone in it. This had been hard to actually prove, since there was nothing to hold up beside the ship for size comparison, but Varec had confirmed it mathematically. The others had already noticed a difference in the relative look of space at different times. At one point, the nearby stars and planets would look normal… but with a slight alteration of the ship's speed or trajectory, these same stars and planets could be made to appear either vastly smaller or vastly larger in comparison to their ship. As it was unlikely that the stars and planets were growing and shrinking, even the "non-scientific minds" onboard had to admit that the alternative was the only likely answer… as disconcerting as it might be.**

**The STR-S factor did have a practical application, though. Making the ship significantly larger resulted in the ship passing more quickly through a dimension. Conversely, a smaller ship took longer to pass through a dimension. Speed was, of course, a factor, but even the non-scientists onboard could see that there was an appreciable difference in how long it took them to pass through a dimension when they altered the speed-trajectory ratio. **

**Varec calculated that, at different speed-trajectory ratios already tested, the ship had at one time been as small as a kyrin - about the size of a dime - and the individuals on board had been the size of amoebas… and at another time, the ship had been as large as a planet, with everyone onboard standing over a hundred feet high… but since everything was relative, no one could tell if this was so or not. Small or large, no one felt any difference, having nothing to compare themselves to and no gravity except the ship's artificial gravity pulling on them. They would have to take Varec and Liz's word for it. One thing was certain, though… a ship the size of a kyrin took a lot longer to pass through a dimension than a ship the size of Jupiter, and this knowledge could be useful.**

**Varec had already begun to put together a chart that would plot the STR-S differential. If he was successful, they would know, by following the chart, what trajectory and speed to use to reduce their actual travel time or to make the ship larger or smaller. In fact, Michael was already thinking of this latter possibility as a potential advantage…**

**"You know, Max… this could be pretty cool, actually! Too bad it doesn't work in regular space… only in dimensional space. Can you imagine, back when the Ghors attacked us, if we'd been able to make the ship suddenly the size of a small planet and we were like a hundred feet tall. No Ghor problem!"**

**Max grinned and nodded. "Yeah."**

**"But if they were traveling at the same STR-S as we were, they'd be just as big as we were… relatively," Liz reminded them.**

**"Well, yeah…" Michael said, thinking quickly, "but let's say we were normal-sized and we were being attacked. We suddenly change our STARS factor, and Bingo! We're as big as a planet before they know what happened and can change theirs. That would work… wouldn't it?"**

**Liz shrugged and smiled. "Seems logical, Mr. Spock, sir."**

**"Well, I think it would work," Michael said. "Don't you, Max?"**

**"I'd try it," Max admitted. "It sounds reasonable. But who knows what's reasonable out here when no one's ever done it before. I guess we'll only know for sure if it ever happens."**

**"Yeah… yeah, it would work," Michael said.**

**"Well, that STR-S thing would explain why I'm hungry again," Alex mused. "I ate for an amoeba, and now I'm a human… or am I? Are we human-sized right now or what?"**

**Liz smiled. "It doesn't work like that, Alex. "Whatever you ate would all be relative, too."**

**"Well, I like my theory anyway," Alex said. "And I'm getting hungry again."**

**Liz smiled. "It's the excitement of the voyage. You burn the calories faster, because your mind and body are all revved up."**

**"Shrinking and expanding always does that to me," Alex said with a wry grin.**

**"How do we know that we even are the size we think we are… I mean… ever," Maria asked.**

**"What do you mean," Alex asked.**

**"Well, maybe the universe and everything in it is expanding and contracting all the time and we expand and contract with it. If everything is relative, how would we even know?"**

**"That's like the old question of if a tree fell in the forest and no one was there to hear it did it really make a sound," Alex said.**

**"Well did it?" Liz asked, raising her eyebrows.**

**"Of course it did," Alex replied. "What difference does it make if anyone heard it or not? It fell, and it made sound waves in the air, didn't it?"**

**Liz smiled. "Yeah, but what are sound waves? …just disturbances in the air. Is it really sound if nothing is there to interpret those waves and make something out of them?"**

**"Of course it's sound," Alex said. "What else would it be? That's like saying that there's no music on this CD."**

**"There's not," Liz said. "If you want to get technical, there's only a string of data… just a bunch of ones and zeros. They have to be interpreted by another machine and heard by you before they become music."**

**Isabel took the CD from Alex and held it up to her ear. The CD began to play music. **

**"Okay," Liz said… "Another machine… or Isabel Evans."**

**Alex smiled. "Well… okay… but the data is there on the CD, and the sound waves produced by the falling tree are in the air just waiting to be interpreted… so it made sound. There!"**

**Liz nodded. "If you wish."**

**"I hate to break up this interesting discussion," Jim Valenti said, entering the room at that moment, but Max, you asked me to let you know if anything unusual happened in the control room."**

**Max looked at Jim, suddenly forgetting about everything else. The words "unusual" and "happened" in the same sentence seemed to have that effect on him recently.**

**"What happened?"**

**"I think we're intercepting some kind of message," Jim said. "It seems to be a message anyway… I think… but it's in some kind of code."**

**Max, Michael, Liz, and Varec all rushed to the control room, followed closely by Jim and the others.**

**"I don't hear anything," Michael said.**

**"It's not audible," Jim replied. "Look at that area right between those two stars over there. What do you see?"**

**Max and Michael watched for a couple of minutes.**

**"It looks like a light is being sent out from one of those small stars… It could be a code… or it could just be a pulsing star."**

**"Like a pulsar?" Michael asked.**

**Max nodded.**

**"No," Varec said emphatically. "Jim's right. It is a message."**

**"How do you know," Max asked.**

**"It's an old code and an old trick. I haven't seen it used since… since the pods were taken to earth. The protectors were taught it. It's not an easy message to send."**

**"What is it?" Max asked. "Can you tell what it says?"**

**Varec was already making notes in his head, as he watched the dim light pulse and flicker between the two stars.**

**"What it is is a rather sophisticated mind trick that was supposed to allow a protector of the king… and later a protector of the pods… to provide information to an Antarian ship in space even if he was unable to be near any communication device. Only a few protectors were ever able to master it, though, and the effort to teach it was so time-consuming and difficult that teaching it was abandoned after the pods were sent to earth. By producing energy waves in the brain, the protector could cause some stars that were close to each other to exchange small amounts of ion charges, and this created flickers of light in space between those stars. If the protector mastered the procedure well enough, he could control the pulses and use them to transmit a coded signal. The protector couldn't control where the message went. It went out randomly, but wherever there was an Antarian ship in space, it was likely to spot the pulse somewhere among the stars… if it knew what to look for.**

**What it says is a bit difficult to read… but… it seems to be repeating one message over and over…**

**There is danger to the ones you wish to protect. Enemy forces amassing on Eluymer.**

**"That's it?"**

**"That's it."**

**"Could it be an old message… you know… something left over from years ago?"**

**Varec shook his head. "No. This type of message can only be seen while it is being sent. Someone is sending it right now… from earth."**

**"In what dimension?"**

**Varec shook his head. "I… I'd say the one we're going to… Dimension Y. But I don't know how. I don't think there were more than five protectors who ever learned to use this code. Only two or three ever really mastered it… And I never knew anyone who could make it work through another dimension."**

**"How did you know the signals wouldn't pass through to the other dimensions," Max asked.**

**"That's a good point," Varec admitted. "We didn't. Nobody had ever traveled interdimensionally, so I was just assuming that it was a skill that would have to be learned, but you are correct… It is possible that the signal travels interdimensionally on its own."**

**"So someone is trying to tell us… I assume it's us… that Liz and the others are in danger on earth, and the enemy is amassing," Michael said. "Is that it? Isn't that the gist of it?"**

**"I believe that's what someone is saying," Varec agreed.**

**"Then that someone is basically telling us to get our butts in gear and hurry up and get there… or it may be too late."**

**"I believe so," Varec said, nodding again.**

**"How far are we from them… time-wise?"**

**Varec looked at the time piece on his wrist and made some mental calculations.**

**"We can be there in four days… at the speed/trajectory ratio we prefer… the one that seems to produce the fewest anomalies."**

**"Or…" Michael coaxed.**

**"Or…" Varec said… "We could be there by morning… twenty-seven hours from now… by altering our STR-S factor… but we may subject ourselves to unknown anomalies like the one we had three days ago."**

**"And if we don't," Michael said, "Liz and the others may be dead when we get there, and the whole trip will have been for nothing."**

**Varec nodded.**

**"Well," Max sighed, "I think we know what has to be done. There's one good thing about this message. We know Liz and the others are still alive."**

**Michael smiled. "Yeah! Let's make sure they stay that way, Max."**

**Max nodded and looked at Varec.**

**"I guess it's decided then," Varec whispered. "We take the risks. I'll plot a new STR-S factor for the ship right away."**

**Max smiled. "Thank you. We only have to get through any anomalies that may pop up for one more day. We can do that, can't we? Let's save Liz and Alex."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The cavalry arrives to find that they are definitely not a moment too soon.  **


	64. Rath63

The Four Faces of Rath 

**RSVP**

**Subtitled: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition Your Condition Was In)**

**Chapter 63**

**LXIII **

**The crew of the New Granolith tried to get some rest before their scheduled arrival on earth in Dimension Y, which had now been moved up to only twenty-seven hours away, but everyone was too wound up to sleep. Most of them did manage to grab several short "catnaps" along the way, but these tended to be broken up by what Varec had now termed "dimensional paranormalities." Actually, nothing too serious had occurred since the "blushing rose" incident, but smaller occurrences seemed to be the norm rather than the paranormal, Varec's name for the events notwithstanding. Colors often changed for no known reason, a fact that had kept Michael from eating his Antarian golden egg omelet at breakfast. The first bite had looked like a normal golden egg… but then the egg had slowly turned purple, and after that it had turned green. Michael tried to swallow a bite of the green eggs but couldn't manage it and finally pushed them away with a comment about never having liked Dr. Seuss anyway.**

**The food was not the only thing that tended to change colors often, though… people did, too. At the moment, Max was a vivid blue, which Michael found somehow very amusing. Michael was himself a nice bright red. Isabel and Alex were both green, Maria was golden, and Liz was pearly white. Tess was a silvery color, while Jim Valenti was bronze. Varec, who was a sort of turquoise, was still trying to decide whether or not these changes were real or imagined. His theory of the moment was that they were akin to a psychedelic experience… not real but imagined… brought on by cosmic stresses on the mind. Despite his theory, though, every test he did seemed to indicate that the phenomenon was real, and he was slowly becoming convinced.**

**"Well, we won't have to convince anyone that we're aliens," Michael joked, looking at the colorful faces around him.**

**Max nodded. "I imagine when we stop traveling through the rifts, though, all the colors will revert to normal… and we'll be our old boring colors again."**

**"Well, I'm not bored with my old color," Michael said. "I mean… looking at you looking like that is just whacked, Max! You look like one of those guys that bang out that weird music on pipes and never talk… those blue guys in the TV commercials… what were they called?"**

**"Those blue guys, I guess," Max said. "That's what I called 'em."**

**"Blue Man Group," Isabel corrected.**

**"Ah," Michael said, nodding… "Yeah… okay. You know… I got to say, though, Max… Maria looks pretty good… golden… rose… baby blue… or even that iridescent abalone color she was earlier… All this changing colors is a little kinky… but it kind of spices things up… you know what I mean… in a way."**

**Max grinned. "Maybe Jayyd would change her mama's color for you now and then, Michael. I'm sure Jayyd wouldn't mind."**

**"Jayyd gets too creative, Max. Besides, I don't want Maria thinking she's not… you know… exciting like she is, 'cause I'd love Maria any color."**

**"awwww…" Maria said, walking up behind Michael at that moment and kissing him. "You can be so sensitive and sweet sometimes, Michael."**

**Michael turned an even brighter red than he already was.**

**Maria chuckled. "Don't worry. It'll be our secret."**

**"Max knows now," Michael said, nodding toward Max.**

**"Oh, I think he probably figured it out a long time ago," Maria giggled.**

**"Yeah," Max said with a smile… "but I'll keep your secret, Michael. Nobody else has to know."**

**Michael sighed. "I know when I've been outed, Max. Besides, you've probably already told everyone else."**

**Max smiled. "I didn't have to. They know you're a complicated man with a lot of levels."**

**Michael raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Yeah… yeah, that's right! That's a good way to look at it. You're right. Thanks, Max. Complicated… different levels… yeah, that's a good description."**

**"Well, I still like sensitive and sweet," Maria teased.**

**"Just one of my many complicated levels, Maria," Michael said.**

**"Whatever you want to call it," Maria agreed, smiling.**

**"Hey guys," Alex said, walking into the room at that moment… "Varec says earth is in sight… We should be there in about an hour tops."**

**"Varec said an hour tops?" Max asked, not believing what he had heard.**

**"Well… actually, I think he said thirty nine minutes, twenty-seven and three quarter seconds, plus or minus three nanoseconds."**

**"Now that sounds like Varec," Max laughed. Michael nodded.**

**"Let's go up to the bridge and take a look," Max said, motioning the way to the others. "Oh, and by the way, Alex… that's a really fetching mint green color you are this morning."**

**Alex rolled his eyes then turned and walked toward the glass ascension chamber. "Get over it, Max. I'm taken."**

**Max and Michael both laughed. "I just said it was fetching," Max chuckled. "I didn't say it was my color."**

**"Uh uh," Michael agreed. "Mine either."**

**"Well, that's good," Alex said dryly. "Isabel will be glad to know that."**

**"I'm sure she will," Michael chuckled. "I didn't know she was into little green aliens. You need a couple of little antennae on your head, though, Alex… to complete the look."**

**"Yuk it up all you want," Alex said, as they rode the ascension chamber up to the bridge. "You haven't looked at yourself in the mirror this morning, I assume."**

**"Maria likes me red," Michael said.**

**"Good," Alex said with a smile. 'You won't be lonely then… cause you're not my color, Michael… or my type."**

**Max snickered. "Touché. Point for Alex."**

**"You either, Max. I'm not into blue either."**

**"Oh well! I'll get over it," Max said, grinning.**

**Alex, Max, Michael, and Maria exited the ascension chamber and hurried to the bridge. Liz and Varec were already there waiting.**

**"There it is," Varec said, pointing straight ahead. "Earth, Dimension Y. We'll be there in eighteen and five-seventh seconds, plus or minus two nanoseconds… I can calculate it more accurately if you want when we get a little nearer."**

**"No need," Max said, grinning understandingly. "Your 'rough estimate' will be fine, Varec."**

**Max stared out the window at earth, which looked about the size of a marble floating in the distance. As he stared, he began to feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, without warning, Max jumped and dodged then swatted at something. Everyone looked at him, without a clue why he had done what he had just done.**

**"Didn't you see it?" Max asked, flustered.**

**"See what," Michael asked. "I just saw you doing some kind of weird rain dance."**

**"It was a… a helicopter… It flew right in my face."**

**"A real, like, big helicopter?" Michael asked, a bit incredulous.**

**"Yeah…" Max said, shaking his head with disbelief. "I mean, yeah… it was a real helicopter… It was weird."**

**"I didn't see anything," Maria said. **

**"Me either," Alex agreed. **

**Michael stared out the window for a several moments at the earth ahead, trying to see what Max might have seen. For a few moments, he saw only the small blue orb floating in the distance. Then suddenly, he jumped to the side, waving his hands wildly in front of his face. Maria looked at him curiously.**

**"Missiles," Michael said. "Missiles were coming right at me! I waved my hands, and the wind from my hands blew them away from me. What the hell's going on here, Varec?"**

**"Could be the travel through the rifts affecting your mind," Varec said cautiously… "or… you could be seeing something that's happening right now… down there on earth. Call it a remote… sensory… visual… perspective…"**

**"An RSVP," Max said, amused. **

**"Works for me," Michael nodded.**

**"You think they're being attacked down there with missiles," Maria asked Michael.**

**Michael shook his head slowly. "I don't know, Maria. It could be."**

**"What can we do about it if they are," Alex asked. "We're still fifteen minutes away."**

**"Send them an RSVP," Max said.**

**"Huh?" Alex turned and looked at Max.**

**"Send them an RSVP," Max repeated. "A Remote Sensory Visual Perspective. If we're seeing them… maybe we can make them see something, too… make them see something we want them to see… get into their minds."**

**"Like what," Alex asked.**

**Max thought a minute. "Varec… you have the power to bring things to you… even over galaxies… Could you bring something to you through dimensions?"**

**"The jah-ee? The pawgor?" Varec asked, sensing where Max was going.**

**"Well, not actually," Max said. "They would be easy targets for missiles if somebody is shooting missiles down there. I don't want to put them in that kind of danger… But could you transfer an image of them down there to earth?"**

**Varec thought a moment. "I don't know. I might could… if I contacted the real jah-ee and pawgor back on Antar first… through you. It would be like… accessing multiple imaging sources."**

**"Sort of a conference call, you mean," Max said.**

**Varec raised his eyebrows. "I guess so… The jah-ee or pawgor would actually see and react to the situation… and the people down there would see them… but they would really still be on Antar, so they wouldn't actually be able to do anything to anyone on earth… or help down anyone there."**

**"And no one on earth could do anything to them," Max said, nodding. "But the people down there wouldn't know that… right?"**

**"Right. I'm sure they would believe that they were in danger."**

**"Then RSVP them," Max said again. Send the jah-ee to attack the helicopter or the pawgor to attack anyone on the ground who's threatening Liz and the others. Whoever's shooting missiles down there, give them a jah-ee to distract them till we can get there."**

**Varec closed his eyes and concentrated, placing one hand on Max's arm to make a connection. Varec had the ability to bring the jah-ee… or it's image… to him and transmit it to earth, but it was Max who had the mental connection with the jah-ee that would allow the jah-ee to know what was happening.**

**After what seemed like several long moments, Varec opened his eyes and nodded. **

**"The jah-ee understands."**

**Max nodded. Varec closed his eyes again. After several moments, he reopened them.**

**"Danyy's pawgor doesn't hear us."**

**"Only Danyy can speak with the pawgor," Max said. "I never could."**

**"I could still bring the pawgor's image to earth," Varec said. "It just wouldn't understand what was going on."**

**Max shook his head then thought about it again.**

**"The pawgor knows Jim. If Jim appeared to be in danger… or any of us for that matter, it might figure out what was going on. It's a very smart animal."**

**"It wouldn't understand that it was only seeing a vision, though, Max. It would believe that the situations were real and the danger present."**

**Max nodded. "It could confuse the pawgor… maybe we could use it as a last resort. At least, the pawgor couldn't be harmed… It just wouldn't know that."**

**Varec nodded.**

**Nine minutes later, the New Granolith streaked invisibly into earth's orbit, headed toward Roswell. With all its systems functioning and turned on, the ship was totally invisible to the eye and to radar, so no one noticed as the huge Antarian mother ship streaked across the Atlantic, then over Florida, and finally over the Gulf of Mexico, turning north toward New Mexico and Roswell. As the ship approached Roswell, Max scanned the town and countryside for any activity suggesting an ongoing attack of some kind. It didn't take long to pinpoint the Mesaliko Reservation. Focusing on that area, the monitors began to pick up clear images of what was going on.**

**"There are fighter jets everywhere," Max said. "We'd better stay invisible for a while. There's a helicopter down below. And a lot of houses are on fire. It looks like they're attacking the Mesalikos."**

**"Liz and Alex must be there," Michael said. "Why else would they attack the Reservation?"**

**Max nodded. Then he saw a missile streak from one of the fighter jets. It scored a direct hit on something that had just emerged above the clouds. Max gasped, as he got a good view of the craft that had been hit.**

**"Is that one of our ships?" **

**The smaller craft tumbled, out of control and in flames, toward the ground, breaking up as it fell.**

**"It is," Varec confirmed. "It's an old one. I don't know who could be piloting it, though."**

**"You think the army captured it and figured out how to fly it?"**

**"I doubt it. It has too many safeguards. It would only respond to a limited number of DNA profiles… probably only to one of the original crew."**

**"Then someone of ours is in trouble," Max said.**

**Varec nodded.**

**"Lock on to him," Max said. "Put out the fire and bring him onboard."**

**Michael rushed to lock on to the smaller ship and bring it into the New Granolith's huge hangar. Held in the magnetic grasp of the Antarian mother ship, the smaller ship stopped tumbling, leveled off again, and began to rise, then the flames went out, smothered by a mist within the magnetic field that was lifting the smaller craft up.**

**Within moments, the smaller craft, which was actually almost two hundred feet across, was sitting inside the much larger New Granolith, and Michael was in the cargo hold, waiting for the pilot to come out. **

**The bottom of the smaller ship opened. Although the vessel had originally had an antigravity system that held it off the ground, that system, and most of the others on the smaller vessel, had been seriously damaged by the missile. Now the ship sat on the floor of the New Granolith's cargo bay, leaning slightly to one side. The pilot had to bend over and squeeze himself out between the bottom of his craft and the floor. **

**The young man walked up to Michael, stopped, and smiled.**

**"I am Rahn… of the Ke'cje people of Antar. I'm glad that you have arrived. We need your help."**

**"I'm beginning to see that," Michael said. "Let's get up to the the bridge, Rahn. Max will want to talk to you. I'm Michael… some know me as Rath."**

**"I recognized you," Rahn said, as he walked with Michael to the ascension chamber. "The situation is already critical. I'm afraid we must act quickly. Your friends – and mine – are locked inside one of the houses on the Reservation. I heard one of the special agents order the house to be blown up with a missile."**

**As Max and Rahn stepped out of the ascension chamber, they were met by Max.**

**"This is Rahn. Rahn… Max," Michael said, quickly dispensing with introductions. "Rahn says that we need to hurry, Max. Liz and Alex are locked in one of those houses on the Reservation, and a special agent has given the order for the house to be blown up with a missile."**

**Without speaking, Max headed back to the bridge with Michael and Rahn right behind him.**

**"Remove the invisibility field," Max said to Varec, as he walked onto the bridge. "I think it's time they saw us. Maybe we can attract a little attention away from them down there and onto us."**

**Varec passed his hand over two sensors, and the New Granolith suddenly became visible, casting a huge shadow over about three miles of land as it blocked out the sun.**

**Michael adjusted the New Granolith's audio receptors to pick up the communications of the fighter jets. Right away, something came on line.**

**"Uh… This is Wingman One. It's getting overcast up here. Come in someone… anyone… Doesn't anyone hear me anymore? Damn! What is that? It's affecting my signal… Too big to be anything but cloud cover, but…"**

**At the same time, another signal was being picked up from lower down, probably from another fighter jet.**

**"What's going on up there, Wingman One? Where are you? Reply, Wingman One. We didn't copy all of that last communication about the cloud cover. It's supposed to be clear and sunny all day today…" There was a slight pause. "Okay… Guess the weather guys got it wrong again. We're starting to see that cloud down here, too, now. Getting pretty dark all of a sudden."**

**It appeared that the two pilots were no longer able to actually hear each other. However, the New Granolith's audio picked up another communication from farther away…**

**"Cobra Nine checking in. Missiles are ready. Waiting for your orders, sir. Just say the word."**

**A voice came back, "Missiles? Plural?"**

**"You said you wanted big, sir."**

**"I did! I do!"**

**"Well big is what you'll get, then, sir. Missiles one, three, four, and six are armed and ready to fly. Just say the word, and that house is going bye-bye… for good!"**

**"Fire, Cobra Nine! Fire! Just do it!"**

**"Roger that, Culpepper. Cobra Nine Out."**

**Michael looked at Max, and both of them instantly knew what was happening. Max turned to Varec…**

**"Varec, we need the jah-ee… NOW!"**

**Varec had already begun to concentrate.**

**The Cobra pilot's voice came back… "Firing One…" There was a distinct pause, as Cobra Nine hesitated, rubbed his eyes and shook his head, then looked out his windshield again. **

**"Uh… Cobra Nine here… Hold on a minute… There's something… Uh… What the! HOLY…!"**

**The pilot jerked his stick back and to the right, taking his helicopter into a corkscrew loop for a moment. Then he straightened it out again…**

**"What's happening, Cobra Nine," Culpepper asked, disturbed that he had not yet seen the explosion he desired and curious about Cobra Nine's unexplained aerobatics.**

**"Something almost flew right into me," Cobra Nine said after a minute.**

**"You're the only chopper in the area, Cobra Nine. And I don't see any jets near you."**

**"Negative." Cobra Nine's voice said, sounding strangely quaky.**

**"Well, what was it then?"**

**Cobra Nine decided to keep what he THOUGHT he had seen to himself… at least for now. In his experience, pilots who had reported unusual sightings had often been grounded and sent to the base psychologist for extensive testing. Most had come back saying that they hadn't actually seen anything unusual after all and it had just been sunspots. Those who persisted in the belief that it had been anything else never flew again.**

**"Sunspots," Cobra Nine said after a few moments. "It was just sunspots."**

**"Sunspots?" Culpepper asked, somewhat doubtful. "The sun seems to have gone behind a big cloud, Cobra Nine."**

**"Well, up here, there are sunspots, sir," the pilot insisted.**

**"Never mind, Cobra Nine. Just blow that house up… NOW! Carry out orders!"**

**"Yes, sir!" **

**Cobra Nine circled around and headed back toward the home. Once he had lined up his target again, he flipped a switch and spoke into his helmet mike…**

**"Missile One is armed… Firing!" As Cobra Nine started to flip a second switch that would fire the first of the four missiles, the huge bird suddenly reappeared in front of him. Cobra Nine closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still there… and heading right at him. In a near panic, he took his helicopter over into a sharp dive to avoid colliding with the giant raptor, which had an almost unbelievable wingspan. Cobra Nine guessed it to be 65 feet from wingtip to wingtip. He was not off by much. **

**Leveling off after his hastily executed rollover and dive, Cobra Nine looked out his windshield, searching the sky in every direction for the impossible bird. Then he spotted it. Out of nowhere, it dived at his helicopter, its huge claws extended in his direction. Cobra Nine instantly knew that this giant, eagle-like raptor, with its giant talons, could easily tear his helicopter apart or grab and hold onto it… and it might even be able to carry it away. If he allowed this bird to get its talons on his helicopter, the outcome would clearly be devastating. **

**Already flying too low, Cobra Nine rolled over and tried to dive again, this time plowing his helicopter right into the ground. The already armed missile flew off, traveling along the ground toward the house. Clipping a tree along the way, the missile went into a spin then headed back toward the helicopter. The pilot of Cobra One, seeing the missile coming, bailed out of his downed helicopter and ran, trying to put as much distance between himself and the helicopter as he could. Ultimately, the missile missed the helicopter, streaked through the underbrush and trees and ended up in the nearby river. Moments later, there was a tremendous explosion beneath the water of the river. When the dust had finally cleared and the rain of fish, pieces of fish, and river water had all ceased to fall, the Cobra lay on its side, all its rotors bent or broken and its body severely damaged. It would not likely be taking off again any time soon, if ever. **

**Culpepper had watched Cobra Nine dive and level off then dive again and crash in a cloud of dust. He wanted to curse the pilot of the downed helicopter, but at the moment he was too stunned. Culpepper had not seen the jah-ee. Only the pilot of Cobra One had been able to see the huge Antarian bird. But the crash absolutely baffled Culpepper. The pilot of Cobra One was one of the best they had… and yet… he was flying as though he had lost his mind. It was inexplicable and utterly baffling. **

**Culpepper would soon understand, though.**

**Varec had expanded the range of the RSVP. Now anyone who was in the area would see the jah-ee. Maybe it was a flicker perceived from the corner of his eye… Maybe it was just a feeling… but something made Culpepper look up again at that moment. He saw the huge bird descending toward him, its talons extended, and the blood all rushed out of his face. **

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Max and Michael from Antar join the battle to help their younger counterparts on earth.**


	65. Rath64

The Four Faces of Rath 

**Into The Fray**

**Chapter 64**

LXIV 

**Culpepper saw the huge bird descending toward him, its talons extended, and the blood all rushed out of his face. He turned to run but slipped and began to roll down the hill. He might have rolled all the way to the bottom had it not been for a large prickly bush about half way down. Rolling into the bush, Culpepper rushed to crawl under it as far as he could get, scarcely paying attention to the thorns. Feeling somewhat safer in his hiding place, Culpepper scanned the sky again for the huge bird of prey, his heart still beating wildly. The bird seemed to have disappeared. Culpepper looked for his two-way radio/walkie-talkie but realized that he had dropped it during his roll down the hill. He would have to come out from under the bush to retrieve it, and that thought made him shiver involuntarily. After several minutes without seeing the huge eagle-like bird again, however, Culpepper cautiously extracted himself from beneath the bush and looked around. Still seeing no bird, he ran quickly up the hill to where his two-way radio lay and hastily made a call…**

**"Culpepper here… Come in Cobra Leader."**

**"This is Cobra Leader. What's happening there, Culpepper? Did Cobra Nine give you the fireworks you wanted?"**

**"Negative," Culpepper said simply, not expounding on the reasons or causes.**

**"Negative?"**

**"That's what I said… Negative! I need another pilot."**

**There was a short pause. "Where is Cobra Nine?"**

**"Crashed."**

**There was another pause. "Do you need emergency vehicles?"**

**"Negative," Culpepper responded again. "Cobra Nine is okay…" ("For now," he mumbled under his breath, blaming Cobra Nine for not disposing of the huge bird before it had a chance to attack him.)**

**"All right," Cobra Leader replied hesitantly. "I'll send Cobra Two. ETA in seven minutes."**

**"Roger that," Culpepper responded. "Put a rush on it."**

**Culpepper breathed a deep sigh and scanned the sky again, looking for the jah-ee… and he realized that he was still shivering.**

**On the Reservation below, meanwhile, Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, Alex, and the others were all tied up and awaiting what was intended to be, in effect, their execution. After overwhelming them with the Cobra helicopters and then subduing them with gas, Agent Culpepper had ordered them all bound and locked inside one of the empty houses. He had then ordered the house to be blown up with a missile. That "job" had fallen to Cobra Nine, who had no idea that the house was occupied… though he never asked either. Cobra Nine was just happy to give Culpepper a bright fireworks show, and he planned to fire a total of four missiles into the house to accomplish that goal… but an unexpected encounter with the jah-ee had ended his plans early, and Culpepper had called Cobra Two to finish the job. **

**Inside the house, meanwhile, Max and Michael were making the most of their brief reprieve. Michael had managed to chew through the fiberglass tape that bound his hands and had helped Max to finish getting the tape off of his hands. Then the two of them had untied themselves and the others.**

**"What are we going to do," Liz asked, hugging Max. "If we try to run, they'll see us… and they'll shoot us on sight… especially with you having to carry me."**

**Max swallowed. He knew that Liz was right. Free of the ropes or not, there was nowhere they could run to. Yet as long as they were in that house, they were condemned prisoners… merely waiting for their execution to take place.**

**"We need to make a run for it," Michael said, clearly preferring to die in action than to sit there and perish without a fight. "We can hold some of them off for a while."**

**"But we'll still all die, right?" Alex asked.**

**Michael nodded solemnly.**

**"Just checking," Alex said.**

**As the group debated their options, few as they seemed to be at the moment, high above them, another group was also debating… inside the Antarian mothership, the New Granolith.**

**"Have you located them yet," Michael asked Varec.**

**Varec shook his head. "There's too much going on down there… and a lot of smoke over the reservation. But I'm concentrating on the area that was in line with the flight of that last flying machine with the spinners on top… the one you call a helicopter."**

**"That's probably a good idea," Max agreed. "We know it was on its way there to blow up the house. Where was the pilot when he said he was 'firing,'?"**

**"He was just outside the reservation. His weapons would have followed this course…" Varec traced a marker over an improvised map of the reservation then drew a circle around five or six houses. "It would have most likely impacted in this area…" **

**"Can we pinpoint it any closer," Max asked.**

**"I'm trying," Varec replied. "The missile had a variable range. It can't be determined which house it would have struck for certain… but I may be able to narrow it down to… three houses."**

**"Do it," Max said.**

**"Max!" Liz cried out suddenly, as she watched the monitors. "There's another helicopter coming!"**

**Max looked at the monitor.**

**"Damn. He'll be in range in… two minutes. We don't have much time."**

**"One minute, twenty-one and one quarter seconds," Varec corrected.**

**"That's what I said," Max mumbled… "not enough time."**

**"Look!" Michael yelled, pointing at the monitor. "Someone's going into one of the houses."**

**Varec quickly compared his improvised map to the monitor. "That would be this one."**

**"Why would anyone be going INTO a house that was about to be blown up," Maria asked.**

**"Maybe it's one of OUR group down there… trying to save the others," Isabel suggested. "I don't know anyone else who would be putting their life in danger going into a house about to be blown up, do you?"**

**"That's the house," Max agreed. "Gotta be! Concentrate on that house! Get ready to bring anyone who's down there onboard immediately."**

**Varec rushed to prepare the New Granolith's systems for quick teleportation of carbon life forms.**

**"Someone's coming out!" Liz said. "Look!"**

**Everyone looked at the monitor. Three people had emerged from the house and were helping the others to get out. But they would not have enough time…**

**"MISSILE!" Alex shouted, pointing at the screen. Max and Michael both saw it at the same time.**

**"Transport! Now!" Max yelled. "Get them out!"**

**Varec activated the transporter systems just as a bright light engulfed the house. Then the house vanished from the monitor. On the bridge of the New Granolith, nothing could be heard but the heavy breathing of those watching the monitor… for what seemed like an eternity.**

**"Did we get them?" Max asked after several moments, somehow finding his voice again, though it was still shaky.**

**Varec shook his head. **

**Maria closed her eyes, and tears ran down her cheeks. Michael held her and wiped his own eyes.**

**"We came so far… so far for it to end like this," Maria cried. "So far… and so close. It's not fair."**

**"Reality isn't always fair," Varec said softly. "We try to make it fair. That's what living is about."**

**"Well…" Michael said, rubbing his reddened eyes again. "I don't know about the rest of you… but I'm going to make someone down there pay. I don't feel very forgiving at the moment."**

**"What are you going to do," Varec asked. "You can't just destroy everything down there. There are innocent people down there, too."**

**Michael turned around and headed to the ascension chamber. The chamber reopened in the cargo bay, and Michael got out, heading for the room that housed his special bike… the one Varec and his scientist friends had made for him years before. On his way there, Michael noticed that the bottom bay doors had only partially closed after bringing Rahn's ship onboard… and he noticed something else…**

**"The lower beam never deactivated."**

**Michael started to deactivate the beam, but as he reached for it, he noticed something through the partially open bay doors. It looked like a fighter jet. It must have been caught in the beam. Instead of switching off the beam, Michael opened the bay doors all the way… and the fighter jet was drawn into the hangar. Then Michael closed the doors. The jet's engines were already dead. They had probably run out of fuel long before. A helmeted individual sat in the pilot seat, staring blankly at Michael below.**

**"You'll be the first," Michael mouthed to the pilot. "Get out!"**

**The pilot couldn't hear Michael; and in truth, he couldn't see him very well either. He had been spinning around and around in his plane, caught in the attractor beam, for over an hour. Trying to get out of the plane, he tripped and fell on his face on the floor. For a time, he just lay there and moaned. Michael walked up to the pilot and turned him over with his foot so that he would be facing up and he could see Michael's face… and so that Michael could see the pilot's face.**

**"What are you moaning about? You're punishment hasn't even begun yet."**

**"Dizzy," the pilot mumbled, moaning again and trying not to throw up. Not totally successful, he pulled his helmet off quickly to avoid choking.**

**"Are you… are you… going to kill me?"**

**"I'm strongly considering it," Michael replied honestly. "You killed my friends."**

**"The ones in the flying saucer?"**

**"No. The others. We saved Rahn and his flying saucer. You should have been lucky enough for the others to have been saved, too. They weren't."**

**"What others?"**

**"The ones on the Reservation. The ones you and your squadron were sent to kill."**

**"I was just sent to chase a flying saucer," the pilot said feebly… "A stolen flying saucer… from Area 51."**

**"Who stole it from whom," Michael asked.**

**The pilot was silent for several moments.**

**"I see your point. But it was Army property. I'm required to go after it."**

**"Are you required to kill innocent civilians?"**

**"I didn't kill any innocent civilians."**

**"What about all those houses on the Reservation? You didn't kill any Mesalikos?" **

**"I… I didn't do that. The tanks… and the Cobras did it."**

**"But if you had got the orders to do it, you would have done it."**

**The pilot didn't respond.**

**"Why shouldn't I kill you right now… right here," Michael asked, holding up his palm and allowing it to glow brightly in a clear demonstration of the threat he posed to the pilot.**

**"It was national security," the pilot said. "Don't you have security issues where you come from? Who's in charge of security on your… on your… where you come from?"**

**Michael lowered his hand slowly, and his palm stopped glowing.**

**"I don't kill innocent civilians or people who have done nothing wrong except for being born who they are."**

**"Lucky you," the pilot said. "You must know who is a threat and who is not."**

**"I determine that first," Michael replied.**

**"Like you did with me?" the pilot asked.**

**"I haven't killed you yet," Michael said. "And you may be a threat."**

**"But do you know that I am?"**

**"I know you have the capability to be."**

**"Ah! The capability… Yes… And would aliens have that 'capability?'"**

**"Not necessarily."**

**"Your hand looked like it had that capability."**

**Michael looked at his hand then nodded solemnly. "Don't ever doubt it. But I haven't used it… yet."**

**"You were going to."**

**"I haven't decided for sure that I'm not still going to," Michael said.**

**"See? You do have security issues. And your answer to them is not so totally different than ours."**

**"Yes it is," Michael said. "You're still alive."**

**"For the moment," the pilot said.**

**"Yeah… for the moment," Michael agreed. Michael placed his hand over a sensor on the wall…**

**"Max!"**

**A voice came back over the intercom. "Is that you, Michael?"**

**"Yeah. I'm sending you a prisoner."**

**"A prisoner?"**

**"Yeah. He's coming up in the chamber. Have someone waiting for him. I'll explain later."**

**Michael motioned toward the ascension chamber, and the pilot slowly got back on his feet and walked into the chamber.**

**"We'll finish this later," Michael said, closing the door and sending the chamber up.**

**As the bay doors at the bottom of the New Granolith reopened, a very special bike dropped out. It had wheels, but it also had an oddly aerodynamic look. One moment it was there, freefalling through the air… the next, it had disappeared in a blaze of light as though the sky had just opened up and swallowed it though a portal. Michael was on his way to settle a debt.**

**On the Reservation below, fifteen people stood silently…**

**"Max?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Are we… are we still…" Liz stammered. "I can't see you."**

**"I've still got you in my arms, Liz."**

**"I know. But… what just happened to us?"**

**"I don't know."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The Antarian mothership drops in for a closer look –much closer- and shakes things up in Roswell, as Michael seeks those who are responsible for the blast that he believes killed their counterparts. And "not-so-old friends" meet again. **


	66. Rath65

The Four Faces Of Rath 

Author's note: This next chapter was revised and edited from Chapters 28 ("Follow The Phoenix") and 29 ("Michael Times Two & Other Miracles") of "The Night The Dreams Died." At this point in the saga, the two different casts, one from Antar and one from earth, are coming together, and their stories will be temporarily intertwined. To the degree possible, however, each story will still be told from the POV of the appropriate cast.

**Michael & The Amazing Bike**

**Chapter 65**

**LXV**

**Unknown to Michael or to anyone else on the Antarian mothership at that time, the fifteen people who had been in the house that had just been blown up had not died. However, as smoke and flames rose all around them, they stood silently, wondering themselves whether or not they were still alive.**

**"Max?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Are we… are we still…" Liz stammered. "I can't see you."**

**"I've still got you in my arms, Liz."**

**"I know. But… what just happened to us?"**

**"I don't know."**

**Max looked around. He could see the bombed out, fiery remains of the house. He could see the flames. But he couldn't see any of the other members of their group.**

**"Michael! Are you there?"**

**"I'm right here, Max. I've got Maria. She's still with me."**

**Max called out the name of each of the remaining twelve people who had been with them, making sure that everyone was present and accounted for. **

**"We need to figure out what's going on here and where we're going. Angie Lee?"**

**"I'm here, Michael."**

**"I'm assuming you're still the reason we can't see each other."**

**"Yeah."**

**"Okay… and no one else can see us either?"**

**"Right."**

**"How did we just survive that… you know… thing… just now? Did you do something?"**

**Angie Lee looked at the scene around her. It looked more like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust than anything she recognized.**

**"I didn't do anything… except cover us with a mind warp shield to keep anyone from seeing us."**

**"Could your mind warp shield have protected us?"**

**"I… I don't know. I don't think so. I wouldn't have expected it to."**

**"What was that bright light right before the explosions," Diane Casey asked. "I saw a bright light."**

**"Yeah, she's right," Alex agreed. "I saw it, too. I thought it was part of the explosion, but since she mentioned it, I do remember seeing a bright light right before the explosions."**

**"I don't think it had anything to do with my mind warp," Angie Lee said. "It was like something else… maybe it's what protected us."**

**"Then let's take advantage of it and get out of here," Michael said. "I don't care what it was… a mind warp or divine intervention… I'll take it! Max and I'll lead. The rest of you… just hold on till we get there… wherever there is."**

**The group walked away from the now-destroyed home… occasionally passing a still-standing home then more that had been destroyed. The Mesaliko Reservation, it seemed, no longer existed… certainly not as the place of quaint and peaceful little homes that it had once been. It was now a charred and destroyed battleground. Michael wondered how in the name of all that was holy the perpetrators of this desecration would explain this to the country… to the people… to their superiors… TO THE PRESIDENT! Did even the president know about it? Michael wondered. How high did this go? Would it even matter? If no one was left to testify against the perpetrators of this massacre… they could make up any lies that seemed convenient to them… and they would undoubtedly be exonerated of any and all wrongdoing. Michael steeled his resolve. He was determined that he would survive to tell the world what had happened here… even if it killed him. **

**"Hey, Max, listen… Do you hear something," Michael asked.**

**Max listened. "Sounds like a car coming."**

**Max led the group off the road and onto a grassy shoulder. Then they stopped and watched. **

**"Everyone stay quiet," Max cautioned. "They can't see us, so there's no need to panic. Just stay still and be quiet till they're past."**

**The group watched in silence as a Humvee approached. It was going much slower than they would have expected, barely more than walking speed. It slowed more… then it stopped. Judge Lewis jumped out and looked at the ground excitedly.**

**"See! I told you those were shoe prints! And I told you they were new! They go off into the grass right here."**

**Culpepper got out of the Humvee and looked closely at the slight traces of shoe prints on the hard dirt road. They weren't very obvious. It might even have been debatable whether or not they were really shoe prints at all. But they did seem to turn off into the grass in this area.**

**"What's your point, Judge? You think there are more aliens?"**

**"Maybe…" Judge Lewis said skeptically… "But I'm more inclined to think it's the ones we already know."**

**Culpepper laughed. "Only if they're ghosts! I assure you that's the only way they're ever coming back, Judge!"**

**"Laugh if you want, Culpepper. I know these kids better than you do. I know enough not to believe anything before I see bodies."**

**"There won't be any bodies to see, Judge. They're dead! They were burned up! Take my word for it. You don't get hit with four hellfire missiles and just walk away! Maybe you're seeing ghosts. Corporal, get the Judge the number for Ghostbusters. Maybe he should call them."**

**The driver and Culpepper both enjoyed the joke, but Judge Lewis wasn't paying any attention. He stepped onto the grass and looked around. Max and all those with him stood totally still, not ten feet away from Judge Lewis. If they ran, he would see the movement in the grass… but if they stayed and he came any closer he might actually find them. For a moment, Max was unsure. Maybe Judge Lewis would not venture too far from the road. **

**Judge Lewis stepped forward, taking several more steps into the grass. Somehow Isabel managed to stand totally still, though Judge Lewis was now standing right in her face. She could even smell his breath. She closed her eyes momentarily and hoped she wouldn't sneeze.**

**As fate or bad luck would have it, Judge Lewis decided to take one more step, and Isabel was forced to back up to keep him from running into her. As she stepped back, Judge Lewis' eyes grew large, and he pointed at the grass…**

**"They're here! They're here! I saw the grass move!"**

**He turned around quickly to look for Culpepper, but instead of Culpepper, he saw something he had not expected to see… Amy… standing between him and Culpepper. It took Judge Lewis a mere split second to notice that Amy's feet appeared to be floating just above the ground. Momentarily shocked, Judge Lewis' first impulse was to scream at Culpepper and the Corporal who was driving the Humvee to shoot her… and the Corporal, who was even more shocked than the judge by what he was seeing, did, without hesitation.**

**It had no effect. Either Amy was capable of taking a bullet in the chest now and not even flinching or she really was… a ghost. **

**For a moment, Judge Lewis seemed to turn pale. Then he looked at Culpepper again. Culpepper was still staring at Amy's feet, which weren't touching the ground. Judge Lewis turned back around and came face to face with Liz standing behind him. Her feet, too, seemed to be floating just above the ground. Whirling around, he saw Max and Michael… then the others… all staring… silently… accusingly… at the three men… all with their feet floating just above the ground.**

**Culpepper stood paralyzed as though in a trance, and no words seemed to come out of his mouth. The excitable Corporal, however, decided to empty his pistol into the apparitions… with predictable results… no effect.**

**Judge Lewis turned around to face Amy… then turned back to face the others. The more he looked at the "ghosts," the more he began to think. He waved his hand at Amy, but it went right through her. Culpepper almost fainted, and the Corporal gasped loudly, turning even paler than he had been before.**

**"No… No… This isn't right," Judge Lewis said, swiping at the apparition again. "This isn't right I tell you! Ghosts don't leave footprints. Ghosts don't make the grass lay down under their feet. Suddenly and without warning, Judge Lewis reached out in the direction of the place where the grass had moved before and made contact with something. He held on tight. It was an arm.**

**"Ow! You're hurting me!" Maria cried out, as Judge Lewis twisted her arm. "Let go!"**

**"Not on your life," Judge Lewis growled back. "You're gonna be my ticket."**

**"She said let her go," a new voice said behind the judge. Judge Lewis whirled back around to look. It was Jim Valenti who had spoken… and beside him was Amy… again.**

**"Oh! So the 'ghosts' can talk!" Judge Lewis sneered, looking over at Culpepper as though expecting an apology from the agent to be forthcoming, and in the process, twisting Maria's arm even further. That was a mistake. The moment he turned his eyes away, Amy leveled a crashing fist on his head that sent the judge sprawling to the ground. By now, Angie Lee had dropped the invisibility shield… as well as the special effects. The fake ghosts had all disappeared, and the real people all became visible again.**

**Culpepper started to go for his gun, but Jim got there quicker. The Corporal got to his own gun and tried to fire it, but he had already emptied his clip on the fake ghosts that Angie Lee had conjured up. With Culpepper's gun now in Jim's hand, the two men could do nothing but watch.**

**Judge Lewis had lost his grip on Maria's arm as soon as Amy's fist had crashed down on his head sending him sprawling to the ground. Now she was on top of him, and everything that had been pent up inside her finally came flowing out like the waters behind a burst dam. If Judge Lewis had actually been the BIG DOG that he always claimed to be, his fur would have been flying right now in all directions. What actually was flying was pieces of his clothes… and possibly skin. Since Amy had the judge down on the ground behind the Humvee, Culpepper and the corporal could not actually see what was happening to the him anymore, but his shrill, terrified howls and the rapidly flying pieces of cloth -and what appeared to be skin- made them wince more than once.**

**"Shouldn't you lend some help there?" Culpepper asked Jim pointedly."**

**"She doesn't look to me like she needs it," Jim replied matter-of-factly.**

**"I meant HIM, Culpepper barked with a tone of exasperation. "You are the sheriff!" **

**"NOW you remember that," Jim said. "Well, you must also know then that I have no authority on the Reservation. I'm not the sheriff here. Gray Hawk's people have their own laws."**

**"Well, then, shouldn't YOU stop her," Culpepper barked at Gray Hawk.**

**"I will do what I can," Gray Hawk said slowly. "I will have to convene a Council first, of course." Gray Hawk looked around at the burned out homes and sighed dramatically… "There do not appear to be enough Mesaliko present now on the reservation for a Council. When there are, I will bring this matter up… if it is important at that time."**

**Culpepper winced again.**

**A couple of minutes after it had started, another Humvee approached the group. In it were several soldiers armed with AK-47's, a lieutenant, and a higher ranking officer, the second-in-command to General Hawkins. The higher ranking officer looked at what was happening, as the Humvee came to a stop, then he stepped out of the vehicle. Jim still had Culpepper's pistol in his hand, aimed at Culpepper and the Corporal, but he knew it would be no match for four soldiers with AK-47's. He waited to see what would happen, but he didn't lower the gun in his hand.**

**"What's going on here, Barker," the higher-ranking officer asked, calling Culpepper by his real name.**

**"Well, if you'd just open your eyes and look," Culpepper snapped back testily, with frustration and more than a little bit of fear obvious in his voice, "we're being attacked by our prisoners. Now that you're here, I'm sure you'll want to do something about it other than just WATCH!"**

**The General's second-in-command seemed to smile slightly. "You seem to have a problem, Barker."**

**"Are you just gonna talk about it or are you gonna do something," Culpepper snapped gruffly.**

**"I'm thinking," the officer answered. Culpepper's mouth seemed to drop open.**

**The officer motioned toward the soldiers in the Humvee, and they pointed their rifles at Jim, Max, and the others.**

**"Give me the gun," the officer said to Jim. Jim hesitated… then handed the officer the pistol.**

**"This looks like your gun, Barker."**

**"It IS my gun, Edmonds! You KNOW it's mine! Give it back to me."**

**"Do you let all your prisoners hold your gun, Barker… or do they have to ask nicely?"**

**"Just give me my gun, Edmonds… or I'll have the General relieve you of command for insubordination."**

**"Insubordination… to you, Barker?" The General's second-in-command raised his eyebrows. "You're just a special agent. You're not even an officer!"**

**"With special connections," Culpepper reminded him.**

**"Maybe not anymore… We'll see," the officer said matter-of-factly. Then he motioned to Jim and the others. **

**"All of you… down on the ground… hands behind your backs." He looked at one of the soldiers holding an AK-47. "Do we have enough handcuffs?"**

**"If we don't, there's some rope in the back," the soldier said.**

**The officer nodded. "Handcuff 'em." Then he handed Culpepper back his gun. **

**Culpepper promptly aimed it at Angie Lee on the ground. The moment he did, Gray Hawk hit him from the side, sending him reeling into one of the soldiers. Culpepper hadn't even seen Gray Hawk get up. He simply seemed to rise off the ground and strike all in one swift motion. A second soldier hit Gray Hawk on the head with the butt of his gun, and Gray Hawk went down, momentarily addled but not unconscious. The soldier hurried to get the handcuffs on him before he could recover enough to fight again. **

**Culpepper walked back over to Angie Lee and pointed the gun at her again. "I killed you once… or I thought I did. Maybe the second time will be a charm." **

**The General's second-in-command grabbed Culpepper's hand and pushed it away.**

**"What do you think you're doing, Barker?"**

**"She's dangerous, Edmonds! She'll have you seeing things that aren't there when you don't expect it."**

**"That's my problem, Barker… and the General's. He may want to find out what makes her tick… if what you say is true."**

**"If? What do you mean, IF, Edmonds? Of course it's true. You'll live to regret it if you don't kill her now."**

**"And you WON'T live to regret it if you DO kill her now against my orders, Culpepper," Edmonds threatened. Culpepper grudgingly lowered his gun.**

**"What do we do about this one…" the soldier asked, motioning toward Amy, who had still not been pulled off of the pitifully howling, battered, and now mostly naked Judge Lewis. Out of sight as they were behind the first Humvee, and with Judge Lewis howling continuously like a tomcat being pulled through a knothole by its tail, Amy hadn't even been aware of the arrival of the additional soldiers.**

**"Handcuff her, too."**

**The soldiers looked at each other, silently wondering which one was going to do it.**

**"What about him," the soldier asked, motioning toward the judge.**

**"Take him to the base medic. He looks like he's gonna need it."**

**The soldiers carefully handcuffed Amy, who used her last free arm movement to remove most of what was left of Judge Lewis' hair from his left armpit. **

**"All right… There are a couple more Humvees on the way," the officer said. "When they get here, you guys are getting in and we're all going back to the base."**

**When the other vehicles arrived, the fifteen handcuffed prisoners and Judge Lewis were stuffed into five Humvees, including the one Culpepper and the judge had arrived in originally. Then Culpepper's driver was ordered by the General's second-in-command, against Culpepper's wishes, to follow the convoy and return to the base with the prisoners in his vehicle. Still fuming, Culpepper, who had to stay behind, dropped his objections for the moment, but he never planned to allow any of the prisoners to return to the base… even knowing that they would "disappear" once they got there. Culpepper didn't want these prisoners to merely "disappear." "Disappeared" prisoners could talk… and sometimes they escaped, as he had seen some of these do once already. He wanted them dead… and he had an idea how that might still be accomplished. Unfortunately, it might mean sacrificing "a few" soldiers… and the General's second-in-command. Culpepper smiled.**

**The Humvees drove off through the reservation, heading over the hills rather than out the official entrance, and as they drove away, Culpepper made a two-way radio call…**

**"Cobra Leader, this is Culpepper. Come in." **

**"Cobra Leader here."**

**"There's a convoy of five Humvees leaving the Reservation… It's heading over the hills from the Reservation bearing south-southeast. The vehicles were commandeered by the terrorists that were holed up on the reservation. They've killed the drivers. The intended target of the terrorists is Area 51. They intend to use our official vehicles to gain entrance and sabotage sensitive areas of national security. I've been ordered to stop this convoy before it reaches the base…"**

**"They'll never get there," Cobra Leader replied resolutely. "Trust me."**

**"The whole nation is counting on you, Cobra Leader. Don't fail us! Culpepper out." **

**Culpepper pressed the button, turning off his two-way radio. Then he looked at the Humvees disappearing in the distance over the hill… and he smiled. Three minutes later, as the Humvees headed out across the desert, the General's second-in-command spotted something far ahead of the convoy but approaching fast.**

**"What do you make those out to be," the officer asked the driver.**

**"I don't know, sir. I believe they're helicopters… looks like maybe some of our Cobras."**

**"Why would more Cobras be coming out here now?" the officer asked, more to himself than to the driver, who obviously wouldn't know.**

**"I don't know, sir… but they're headed directly towards us."**

**"Yes… they are, aren't they," the General's second-in-command said slowly, beginning to have a bad feeling, as he started to put the pieces together. "Driver, stop the vehicle! Get out! Everybody get out! NOW!"**

**No one in the Humvees had time to react to the officer's order. As they started to move, the air itself seemed to open up in front of them between the Humvees and the approaching helicopters. There was a tremendous BOOM, blowing out all the windows in the Humvees, as something shot out of a rift and the rift closed back up again. The object headed straight for the convoy. It looked like… but the officer's mind refused to believe it… a rider on a motorbike… coming right out of a hole in the sky.**

**Michael touched down on the ground in a puff of smoke and flying grass, and within mere seconds, he had closed the gap and pulled up beside the convoy. Everyone could see now that it was a motorbike… but… what kind of motorbike comes out of the sky… or makes a sonic boom? Certainly nothing that anyone present had ever seen. It was sleek and aerodynamic, and though it lacked wings, it almost looked like it could fly… in fact, apparently, it just had. **

**The mysterious helmeted rider, dressed in a sleek black fabric that might have been some kind of leather, dismounted and looked at the Humvees. Since most of the soldiers had dropped their weapons when the boom had thrown them out of their vehicles, the newcomer seemed to enjoy a certain advantage at the moment. Apparently just realizing this, several of the soldiers scrambled for their weapons, and as they did, the newcomer started to raise one hand. The soldiers hesitated… Was he surrendering? **

**"OH! OW! DAMN!" **

**The soldiers began dropping their guns like hot potatoes. The barrels of the guns started to melt and closed up like straws that had had the air suddenly sucked out of them. Then the stranger's hand began to glow brighter and brighter. Sensing immediate danger, the soldiers nearest to the closest Humvee scattered, putting distance between themselves and the vehicle's gas tanks, but the stranger did not target the vehicle. Instead, he released a blast from the palm of his hand that left a ten-foot-wide, five-foot-deep crater in front of the scattering soldiers. It appeared to have been done as a sign… some kind of demonstration of his powers… a warning that he was not to be trifled with or challenged. It worked.**

**After surveying the scene, the rider calmly removed his helmet. As he did, two gasps came from inside the second Humvee.**

**"It's you," Max said, looking at Michael then back at the stranger again.**

**"Can't be," Michael replied, shaking his head. "It's got to be a trick!"**

**Max jumped out of the Humvee, and Michael followed him. Alex, who had been riding in the third Humvee, behind the one Max and Michael were in, was already out and heading toward the newcomer, too. Inexplicably, both Alex and Liz, who because of her legs could not leave the vehicle she was in on her own, were smiling broadly.**

**"Don't they even know when they should be afraid," Michael wondered to himself, turning back and looking at the newcomer again. Michael walked up to the strange sky rider, and the two of them stood there, face to face. They were the same height. They had the same hair, the same eyes, the same build… though the newcomer might have been a few years older. **

**The newcomer smiled… then nodded slightly, with a look of satisfaction and relief on his face… **

**"I thought you guys looked like you needed some help down here.**

**"Yeah," Michael said, nodding in return but still suspicious. "You thought right. I guess I owe you."**

**The newcomer shrugged. "It was nothing that you wouldn't have done yourself."**

**"How would you know…" Michael started to ask reflexively, but he had already guessed the answer.**

**"Michael," Alex said, strolling confidently up to the newcomer with a huge smile on his face. "Meet our Michael."**

**"I just did," the newcomer said, smiling. **

**Alex turned to Max and Michael of his group… "Remember when Liz and I were in the hospital and they thought we were in a coma…? Oh, wait… you wouldn't know about that, would you!" Alex suddenly remembered that Max and Michael had still been missing and were presumed to be dead when that had happened.**

**"Well, I remember it," Kyle said, walking up and looking at the newcomer. So does Dad… and Mom."**

**Within seconds, the newcomer was surrounded by the other members of the group and having to hold his hands up to stop them from asking any more questions… for the moment. In time, he would answer all their questions.**

**"There were some helicopters headed this way," Edmonds said, finally screwing up enough courage to approach the newcomer, too. "What happened to them?"**

**The newcomer shrugged. "If they were near the rift when I came out of hyperspace they probably either crashed or had to set down or return to base for repairs… The bike makes a pretty big bang when it comes out of hyperspace. It would have caused a lot of damage to any helicopters that were too close."**

**Max smiled. "I can vouch for that. It broke all the windows out of the Humvees… I think it blew the clothes off of a couple of soldiers, too.**

**The newcomer Michael laughed. "Like the shebbles." **

**Max looked puzzled, and Michael tried to explain…**

**"The first time I rode this bike, I came out of hyperspace in the hills of the Chanesio region on Antar. That region is famous for its shebble herding. Shebbles look kind of like a cross between a yak and a buffalo or something, and their abundant hair is harvested by the shebble herders in the region. It comes off pretty easily I found out. When I came out of hyperspace on my bike, a whole field full of shebbles was suddenly left as bald and pink as a newborn baby's butt by the sonic blast… and shebble hair floated down out of the sky for most of the rest of that day. I thought it was pretty funny at the time… but the royal treasury had to reimburse the shebble herders for all their losses." The newcomer smiled at the memory. "It WAS pretty funny, though! Maybe not as funny as Max's hat with the big feather, but…"**

**"Sounds pretty funny to me," Alex agreed, remembering the hat caper. "I wish I could have seen those shebbles."**

**"I wish you could have, too," the newcomer Michael said. "You'd have appreciated it."**

**Alex grinned. "There's somebody else over there who'd like to say hello to you." He motioned toward Liz in the third Humvee. The newcomer smiled and walked over to the Humvee.**

**"Hello again, Liz."**

**"Hi!"**

**"I'm glad to see you and Alex made it back safely and you're both okay."**

**Liz nodded. "Except that my legs don't work again… not like they did on Antar when we were in those perfect new prefab bodies."**

**"Yeah, I remember you said that you were paralyzed. Couldn't Max help you?"**

**Max looked somewhat uncomfortable, and he shook his head. "I tried." **

**The newcomer pulled out a small device and pushed a button. A second later, everyone had disappeared except him. He smiled and looked around at the empty Humvees with their broken windows. There was nothing but the breeze around him now. It was kind of nice. Michael got back onto his bike and twisted the throttle. The bike shot forward instantly, building speed at an incredible rate. In just under six seconds, the air in front of him split apart and opened, and the bike and its rider rushed into the rift. Then the rift closed back up with a thunderous BOOM, blowing the Humvees through the air like paper toys. On the hill, there was no longer anyone around to care.**

**"You found them! They're okay then?" Maria exclaimed excitedly.**

**"Just like Michael said," Max replied. "They're all okay and they're all onboard."**

**"That's wonderful," Liz said. "I'm so glad!"**

**"I am, too," another voice said from nearby. The younger Max and Liz turned around to look.**

**"Rahn!" they both exclaimed at the same time. **

**"Omigod," Liz said, "We thought something had happened to you!"**

**"It kind of did," Rahn said. "I went back and found my old ship on the base where Maria said it was… and I flew it to the reservation to rescue you… my friends… but I was shot down."**

**"You crashed?" the younger Max asked.**

**"I would have, but the people on this ship saw my ship going down and retrieved it with a magnetic wave beam. I've been here, working with them to save you… but we thought you were killed when the missiles hit the house. How did you escape?"**

**"Angie Lee covered us with a mind warp shield so we couldn't be seen," Liz said. "We were leaving when a bright light suddenly engulfed us then the missiles hit. We thought we were dead, but something protected us. We aren't sure what."**

**"The mind warp shield," Varec said.**

**"So that really was what saved us then?" Max asked.**

**"I believe the beam we sent to try to retrieve you may have interacted with the mind warp shield in a way that may have protected you from the explosions… but the combined protection also caused the beam to lose you. We thought that you had all been killed in the explosion."**

**"Well, I'm happy to report that that rumor was not accurate," Max said.**

**"I am happy, too," Varec concurred.**

**"Me, too," Rahn added.**

**"That goes for us all," Max from Antar said, speaking for everyone there. "Come on… there are some people for you to meet… and some things we all have to do."**

**tbc**


	67. Rath66

The Four Faces Of Rath

**Culpepper's Last Flight**

**Chapter 66** (Adapted from TNTDD Ch 32)

**LXVI**

**"Climb out of the plane," Agent Culpepper yelled up to the pilot of the F-14 preparing to taxi to the runway. The pilot pulled back his canopy and removed his helmet, then he powered down his jet.**

**"What's going on?" **

**"I need your plane," Culpepper said. "I've been ordered to use this one for a special mission."**

**"I wasn't told anything," the pilot said.**

**"This is very hush-hush, Lieutenant. I expect you to keep it that way. You guys haven't been able to dent that UFO with your missiles. General Haggerty wants me to try something else."**

**"It won't do any good," the pilot said, shaking his head. "We've fired thousands of rounds and at least twenty missiles at that thing. It all just disappear into thin air. That ship's impervious. It doesn't even know we're attacking it. It would take a nuke to bring it down."**

**"That's what I told the general," Culpepper said. **

**"A nuke?"**

**"The general wouldn't give me one. I had to come up with something just as good. Lieutenant, did you ever watch Star Wars… you know, the original movie?"**

**"Yeah… I saw it several times. I've got all the episodes on DVD."**

**"Remember the Death Star?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Remember how they destroyed it?"**

**"Yeah. Luke shot a missile into a small vent that went to the reactor in the core."**

**"Right. And when the Death Star was being rebuilt in the third movie, they destroyed that one by flying one of those X-Wings right into the inside of the thing, firing into the reactor, and flying back out before it all blew up."**

**"Yeah. I remember that," the pilot said.**

**"Well, Lieutenant, there's been an AWAC up there taking recon photos of that ship and the area and transmitting them back. I assume General Hawkins or General Haggerty sent it up. Look at these recon photos that have been coming in. Do you see anything?"**

**"I see one monster UFO," the pilot said. **

**"Do you see this vent… right here?" Culpepper pointed to a part of the picture.**

**"You're going to fire a missile into that?" The pilot looked unconvinced.**

**"It's a bigger opening than it looks like in the photo, Lieutenant. That opening is big enough to fly a fighter jet into… and back out again."**

**The pilot shook his head. "Uh uh… It may be big enough to fly into, but where are you going to turn around? You don't even know what's in there?"**

**"The reactor's in there, Lieutenant. Recon has confirmed it. It's emitting some kind of ions from the vent that can only come from a reactor. It's not nuclear, but it should blow up with one helluva a bang just the same. There's a similar vent on the other side of the ship. That's a distance of three miles… one and a half in… fire my missiles… then one and a half out the other side. This F-14 can cover that distance in under 30 seconds. It should be enough time for me to get out before the whole thing goes up."**

**"You're crazy," the pilot said, shaking his head. "Did General Hawkins approve this?"**

**"General Haggerty ordered it," Culpepper lied.**

**The pilot breathed a deep breath and let it out slowly again. "Well, I guess he knows what he's doing… but I wouldn't want to fly into that thing and shoot a missile into its reactor… whatever it is… then try to get back out again."**

**"Nobody's asking you to, Lieutenant. I flew one of these planes for several years before I became part of the Unit. I'm taking this ride."**

**"I'm glad it's you and not me," the pilot said honestly, stepping out of the way, as Culpepper climbed into the pilot's seat and powered the F-14 up again. Moments later, Culpepper taxied the F-14 to the end of the runway… then the plane's engines roared, as the jet rushed down the runway and lifted into the air, banking into the sun and heading off in the direction of the Reservation and Roswell.**

**The pilot watched his plane disappear then walked into the airmen's barracks and set his helmet down on a table.**

**"I thought you were flying," a voice behind him said.**

**The pilot turned around, and a young airman handed him a cup of coffee.**

**"Thanks. Yeah, I was, but apparently the General had other ideas."**

**"Ah, yes! He can be like that."**

**"Weren't you on the first recon mission… the one that just got back," the lieutenant asked the young airman.**

**"Yep… We got a great bird's eye view of that thing. It's huge! I can only wonder how they make it just sit up there like that."**

**The lieutenant nodded. "So the primary propulsion it uses isn't nuclear, huh?"**

**The airman raised his eyebrows a notch and shook his head. "How'd you know that?"**

**"Somebody told me. What kind of reactor does it use?"**

**The airman breathed in deeply then exhaled softly. "Anti-matter."**

**The lieutenant's face turned ashy white, and he appeared to reel. He ran one hand through his hair nervously then laid it on the back of the chair beside him. The young airman noticed that the knuckles of the lieutenant's hand were turning white as he held onto the back of the chair; and realizing that something was very, very wrong, he turned several shades lighter himself… "What? What's the matter?"**

**"Barker's going to fire a missile into an anti-matter reactor in that UFO up there… with my plane," Strickland said, trying to sound calmer than he actually was. "If he does… it'll be the end of… maybe the world… but at least this hemisphere. Do you know what even a small amount of destabilized anti-matter could do?"**

**The airman shook his head. "Maybe they have a secure containment field or something around their reactor."**

**"Maybe," the lieutenant agreed, "but I can't take that chance… the WORLD can't take that chance. I've got to get to a radio."**

**Lieutenant Strickland ran from the airmen's barracks and jumped into a small truck that was sitting in front of the barracks with the keys still in it, then he drove across the airfield to the control tower. As fast as he could, he ran up the stairs and knocked desperately on the door. He heard the electronic latch unlock, and one of the controllers opened the door.**

**"Lieutenant?"**

**"I need to come in."**

**The controller moved aside to let Lieutenant Strickland enter then immediately turned his attention back to the UFO on the horizon. It was clearly visible in the distance from the tower, and both of the controllers were watching it intently with something akin to deep awe, even though it sat quite a few miles away from the airfield or the base itself, over the Mesaliko Reservation and the town of Roswell. **

**"I don't have time to explain," Strickland said, grabbing for the microphone. He needn't have bothered. The two controllers weren't paying any attention to anything that he was doing. Strickland pressed the button to speak…**

**"Barker! Barker, come in!"**

**There was no answer. Strickland called again, but Barker was apparently not answering his radio. He probably had it turned off. That would be something Barker would do. That way if he was ordered back to base he could say that he never heard the order and blame Strickland with leaving his radio turned off.**

**"Dammit, Barker, come in!" Strickland yelled over the radio one more time. For a moment, he seemed to despair… but then he turned to the controllers…**

**"Has anyone tried to contact that ship up there?"**

**"What for," the younger of the two controllers asked, with a tone of amusement in his voice. "We don't have anyone on the base who speaks Martian."**

**"Did it ever occur to you that maybe they might understand US," Lieutenant Strickland asked, turning the frequency dial to scan for any possible signal source.**

**"What would we say to them," the second controller asked.**

**"You might try, 'hello!'" Strickland said with a tone of obvious irritation in his own voice.**

**Strickland picked up the mike and pressed the button again…**

**"This is… uh… this is Lieutenant David Strickland… If anyone can hear me on that ship… this is important. Come back… I mean, uh… reply!"**

**Strickland turned the dial several times, each time repeating his message again, then a few moments later, he got an unexpected surprise…**

**"Go ahead, Lieutenant Strickland. We're listening."**

**Both controllers looked at each other, their eyes wide.**

**Strickland pressed the button on the mike again… "Uh… okay, we, uh… we have… well, YOU have… WE ALL, I guess, have an emergency situation here. One of our agents is going to fly a fighter jet into a large vent on your ship. He intends to fire a missile into the reactor as he flies through the core. Do you understand me?"**

**There was silence on the radio. For a moment, Lieutenant Strickland's heart sank into his stomach. Maybe they hadn't understood anything he had said. What had made him think that they would understand him anyway? They probably didn't even know what a jet was… or a missile… at least not by those names. And Barker… or Culpepper, as he preferred to call himself, would be getting there very soon… if he wasn't there already.**

**"Lieutenant," a voice came back over the air finally, "I have someone here who is qualified to discuss the risks with you."**

**"I am Varec," a different voice said, with an accent that the lieutenant couldn't place. The other voice had sounded… well, now that he thought about it, almost American… perhaps even New Mexican. This new one, though, was different somehow… maybe Canadian. No. Not Canadian… Definitely not Canadian… **

**"Mister Varec," Lieutenant Strickland said, shaking himself out of his thoughts and back to the matters at hand, "your ship and our world are in danger. If Agent Barker flies into your ship's vent and fires a missile into your anti-matter reactor… and manages to blow it up… it could destroy not only your ship but potentially half of our world."**

**"You are well-informed," the voice from the ship above said.**

**"And desperate," Strickland said sternly. "There's no time. Barker may be there already."**

**"Wouldn't the outflow of air push anything back out of the vent," Strickland heard the first voice ask the one named Varec.**

**"A bird, yes, Zan… maybe even a small plane," Varec replied… "but probably not a slip-stream… what you call a 'jet.' It has enough power and speed to fly into our vent, but I do not think that it could fly through the containment area in the core."**

**"I hope you're right," the first voice said… "because I think I see it coming now."**

**Max, Michael, Varec, Liz, Alex, Isabel, Maria, and the others who were currently on the bridge crowded nearer to the huge front window of the ship to catch a glimpse of the fast approaching fighter jet.**

**"Strickland," Varec said, "Warn your pilot not to enter the core! He will not survive."**

**In the pilot's seat of the approaching F-14 fighter jet, Barker, alias Agent Culpepper, sat transfixed, gazing at the huge mothership ahead of him with a single-minded, blind fanaticism and a trace of a smile on his face. He never really entertained the thought that anything could go wrong with his plan. Of course, somewhere deep inside his mind, he knew that it could… but there was a certain arrogant self-assuredness about Culpepper that wouldn't allow him to seriously consider failure. He was sure of himself. He was sure of his abilities. He was sure of his plan. **

**Barker aligned the F-14 Tomcat with the huge spaceship's oval-shaped starboard vent and adjusted his speed and flaps slightly, rotating the plane's adjustable wings out just a bit for stability as he slowed the jet's forward speed to make any final course adjustments. The plane wobbled ever so slightly as it continued to speed toward the opening. Seeing himself right on course, Barker increased the throttle to full and turned on the afterburners. **

**Strickland pressed the button on his mike to warn Culpepper away, but it was already too late. At that moment, Barker's fully-armed F-14 Tomcat flew straight into the starboard vent at full throttle and with afterburners blazing. Max looked at Varec then at Michael. Both of them stood there silently… waiting.**

**It was exactly as Barker had imagined it inside the huge oval-shaped vent… The passage was easily sixty feet high… probably a bit more… and it was wider than four F-14 Tomcats placed wing to wing, not enough room to turn a jet around in but certainly enough for any crack pilot like himself to fly through. Barker's F-14 Tomcat, by comparison, was sixteen feet high and had a wingspan of 64 feet, 1.5 inches "spread," which is at their maximum span. The wings can be drawn back into the "swept" position, which reduces their span to only 38 feet, 2.5 inches, or "overswept" position, which reduces them almost another five feet, to 33 feet, 3.5 inches.**

**As Barker flew into the huge vent, he did notice a significant amount of air resistance. His plane's airspeed dropped by about one fourth as it encountered the outflow of air coming from the core. It felt a bit like driving a car into a strong headwind. But Barker was not concerned. At full speed or three quarters speed, his success, he was absolutely positive, was assured. The plane's afterburners would push him through the heavy outflow of air on the way in and onward to the core. There, he would fire his missiles… then the rushing outflow of air on the other side of the ship would actually provide him with a tailwind, helping him to get out before the ship exploded, as he exited with the airflow. It was a sweet plan.**

**What Barker, alias Culpepper, did not know was that the reactor was actually well protected and totally impervious to any of his missiles. But more important than that, to Culpepper, would have been the knowledge that the reactor was cooled by forced air flowing around the inside of the entire core at a speed greater than that of any hurricane ever known on earth. In a sense, this was a ship that actually breathed. When they were not in space, air was sucked in literally through every centimeter of the skin of the ship and diverted into the core where it flowed around the reactor many times before being vented out through the huge vents. The system was very efficient… but incredibly violent, wind-wise, within the core itself. In the vacuum of space, the air was unnecessary to protect the reactor.**

**As Culpepper flew Strickland's F-14 Tomcat ever deeper into the enormous passageway inside the vent, heading toward the core of the mothership, Max and the others braced themselves for… they weren't quite sure what. But Varec knew. It was he, after all, who had designed the ship… and he had helped to build it. Approximately forty seconds after entering the vent… a bit longer than expected due to the heavy air flow being vented from the core… Culpepper was approaching his expected target. Then he saw the huge, swirling storm circling the core ahead of him. It looked like a half-mile-wide monster tornado. There was no way around it. Belatedly realizing what he was flying right into, Culpepper instinctively pressed his right foot hard to the floor in a brief moment of sheer panic, but there was no brake pedal. **

**Suddenly and with total clarity, if only for a brief second, Culpepper realized that he was doomed. **

**The fighter jet slammed into the howling 3000-mile-per-hour winds with the force of a train wreck, and the winds slammed the jet to the side like a sledgehammer hitting a fly, exploding the plane's already armed missiles one after the other. What was left… because it could no longer be identified as a jet… tumbled around the core with the wind, as it continued to break into smaller and smaller pieces. Within a matter of mere seconds, it had been reduced to tiny motes of flotsam barely large enough to even recognize. These circled the core a few hundred times at 3000 miles per hour before being ejected from the starboard and port vents and fluttering to the ground below like a million tiny silvery butterflies sparkling and glinting in the sunlight of a bright new day. **

**In a way, the silvery, glistening confetti falling in streams from the ship's vents was almost beautiful. As for Culpepper, his body had either been pounded into oblivion by the winds and by the unexpected premature explosions of his own missiles or simply absorbed by the anti-matter reactor… in which case, Culpepper may ironically actually have provided a millisecond or two of extra energy to the ship that he had sought to destroy.**

**Varec swallowed nervously but was clearly unsurprised when no one onboard felt so much as a bump… even as all the missiles of the fighter jet blew up one-by-one inside the core. Fortunately, the explosions were effectively damped by the ferocious winds and caused no damage whatever to the ship or to the reactor.**

**"What's going on there," the voice of Lieutenant Strickland crackled over the radio. "What's happening?" **

**"I believe you will need to replace your… jet," Varec said simply, in total seriousness… "and your agent."**

**There was a momentary silence over the radio before Strickland replied.**

**"Then the world is safe… and I take it, you are, too."**

**"We are all safe," Varec said, confirming Strickland's statement.**

**"Good," Strickland said simply, his voice a bit shaky but seeming sincere. "That's good."**

**"Lieutenant Strickland," the southwestern-sounding voice of the one named Zan said, returning once again to the air… "Thank you."**

**"For what?" Strickland asked, genuinely unassuming. "I didn't do anything… well, nothing that helped anyone."**

**"You did. You warned us. If we had needed to stop your agent, we could have done so… because of your warning… but it wasn't necessary for us to take extraordinary, uh, 'measures' to stop him. The reactor is quite safe when the ship is in the atmosphere… because of the cooling winds that blow around it… and in space, where it doesn't need to be cooled, it's still well protected, I assure you, even without the winds. I am sorry about your… your loss, though."**

**Strickland sighed. "Yes… that was a fine plane… an F-14 Tomcat."**

**"Yeah… well… I was referring to the pilot, actually," Zan replied.**

**"Culpepper?" Strickland exclaimed impulsively, momentarily sounding unexpectedly shocked. "Yeah well… thanks… but he knew what he was doing. That's the problem really. He did know what he was doing… and he would have destroyed the world."**

**"Lieutenant Strickland."**

**"Yes?"**

**"There are a good many other jets… and helicopters… still flying around our ship. You may want to warn them of what will happen if any of them has any idea about flying through the core like your agent did."**

**"I don't think that will be necessary," Strickland said, actually managing a slight smile, "I think they got the message… It's still streaming out of your vents."**

** >>>>>>>>>>**

**_The best laid plans of mice and men…_**** Isn't that what they say? **

**Oh, yeah, and of Antarians… and Antarian hybrids… Let's not forget them. Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Alex, Isabel, Tess, Rayylar, Varec, and Jim from Antar in the original dimension (which Varec had now named "Dimension A") had planned to come to Dimension Y, save their doubles from a disastrous end, and return home all in… oh, maybe three weeks time, including travel. But as the expression implies, plans don't always go… well… as planned. **

**Okay, Varec didn't actually call them Dimension Y and Dimension A. He used the first letter and the next to last letter of the Antarian alphabet, but those letters not being present on any known earth computer, we will use A and Y.**

**Max and his crew had planned to stay on earth in Dimension Y perhaps two or three days, but circumstances stretched that time out to well over five weeks during which time several important things happened, including some weddings and a most unusual honeymoon… a clandestine casino… and an almost disastrous attack on both of our gangs by a treacherous shapeshifter named J'Shalo, whom the Antarian group had once known as Nasedo in their dimension but who was unknown to the local group. One can read about all of that, though, in the companion chronicle, _The Night The Dreams Died_, so we will skip ahead to what happened next… **

**From J'Shalo, the two groups learned that Kivar, in this dimension, had recently been killed by one of his enemies on Antar… and so… our heroes agreed to take their younger doubles… and another shapeshifter, named Rahn, whom they had befriended… home. That's right… home. You know… like "E.T call home…" That home. Antar. "Up there," the place where Max was pointing when Liz asked where he was from. This, of course, meant still more time before they would get to go back to their own dimension. **

**Thanks to Rahn, on Antar in Dimension Y, they met a shapeshifter named Ta'lan, and Ta'lan rewarded Rahn's benefactors with a huge meal and a very special gift for saving him and bringing him home. Unfortunately, the gift would have required the group from Dimension A to remain yet another day in Dimension Y (at least) and take a trip into the high mountains around the Ke'cje shapeshifters' valley, so Max and crew decided that they would forego the gift and instead return home right away. Ta'lan gave Max a sealed note to give to her double when they got back home, and she gave the younger group from Dimension Y their gift the next day in the high mountains surrounding the Ke'cje Valley. **

**That pretty much brings us forward in time to the original group's return to Antar in Dimension A… if we skip over the details of the trip back… and we will, because that took seven months, not merely a few days as expected. That story is yet to be told. The good news is, Max has a ghostwriter working on it from Liz's diary notes as we speak. So that's it… here we are… **

**Home… or is it?**

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Back home on their own Antar after a longer-than-expected return trip, our group on the New Granolith finally gets to relax. But at home, they learn that some things have changed… and some things that they thought had changed… well, read on. We're getting close to the end. **


	68. Rath67

The Four Faces Of Rath 

**Out Of A Nightmare**

**Chapter 67**

**LXVII**

**Maria dropped to her knees and ceremoniously, but with genuine emotion, kissed the soil she had just stepped onto after walking down the long ramp from the New Granolith. Standing beside her, Michael smiled and nodded understandingly. He was almost tempted to kiss the ground himself. Max took a long, deep breath of "real" Antarian air, and Liz hugged him and wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes. Alex and Isabel spun around and around in the early morning Antarian sunlight, giddily acknowledging… and finally believing… that it was real. Nobody from the ship… not Jim Valenti, not Tess or Rayylar, not even the scientific-minded Varec appeared unaffected. They had made it! They really had finally come home.**

**It had been a long trip… much longer than any of them had expected. The trip to the other dimension had not taken that long, especially after they found a way to speed up their arrival. And the time spent with their doubles on earth had been rewarding, even if it had lasted somewhat longer than expected. But the trip home… **

**Tess had said it best when she surmised that they had taken a wrong turn somewhere and made a side-trip through hell. Nobody had ever disagreed with her assessment.**

**Even now, it was hard to believe that they were really home. It had taken barely over a week to get to earth in dimension Y… and almost seven months to get back. Seven very long and often disheartening months during which they began to think that they might never see home again at all… that this might be their lives, or whatever their lives were fated to become now, lost in the depths of space and time, far away from the homes they had once had, far away from the families they loved. They hadn't even seen Kryys since leaving the other dimension. With his special abilities, Kryys found Maria and Michael, his mom and dad, in Dimension Y, but when they were ready to leave for home, he left, too, departing the same way he had come, through the time continuum, returning home almost instantaneously. The others had to come back by a more conventional route… in the Antarian mothership. But wherever the ship and its crew had been since leaving Dimension Y… even Kryys apparently hadn't been able to find them. **

**No… no one at all was disagreeing with Tess' assessment.**

**Only a scant thirty minutes earlier, everyone onboard had wondered what surprises this new planet would hold for them as they entered its atmosphere. They had long before almost given up hoping that it would be their Antar each time they found another Antar. They had learned to approach each new planet cautiously, without drawing attention to their presence, and to take nothing for granted. But this time was different… Max knew almost immediately. It wasn't the golden sea rotating slowly below them that tipped him off. Most of the other "Antars" looked the same. It was the sudden connection he had to the jah-ees, the one he had healed, in particular. It had been like plugging in a lamp and the light suddenly coming on. Max hadn't even realized that the connection was missing until it was suddenly restored. Then he knew. This was home… This was really it… their Antar. Convincing the others had taken some effort, but in the end they had each given in to their desire for it to be true and had dared to believe… or at least to hope. And now they knew.**

**Home! This was home! Their home! If they ever had had any doubts, those doubts were about to be dispelled completely. Jim looked up to see Kathleen coming toward him. He smiled broadly, and Kathleen began to run, throwing herself into Jim's arms. Close behind Kathleen were Jeff and Nancy Parker, Philip and Diane Evans, Charles and Gloria Whitman, and Jeliya, who were running to keep pace with all the children. Kyle and Jeliya had not gone on the trip, but Kyle had shown up with Kryys right before they started back home. Jeliya had stayed on Antar to help watch the children with Kathleen and the grandparents. **

**Little Jayyd, running to get to her mom first, leapt almost ten feet into Maria's arms, then Zorel and Kryys tackled her, almost taking her down with their exuberance. Maria swung them all three around and around, kissing and hugging them, until she was dizzy, then they tackled Michael, who joyfully held, hugged, and kissed the children he had never intended to be away from for so long and had thought he might never see again. **

**Maya, Andya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx quickly latched onto Liz and Max, who kissed and hugged them as though they might never let them go again. Liz looked around for Jeffy and spotted her baby in Jeliya's arms. She held out her arms, and Jeliya started to walk toward her, but Jeffy wasn't waiting, apparently. Dissolving into atoms, he disappeared from Jeliya's arms and reappeared in Liz's outstretched arms.**

**"He remembers me," Liz cried, as tears ran down her cheeks. Jeliya nodded. After being away for over seven months, Liz had really feared that little Jeffy, who was not yet a toddler when she left, might not even know her anymore. It had given her a scary, empty, lost feeling in her stomach that she could not describe. But Liz's heart leapt with joy when Jeffy came to her and she held him again and kissed him, telling him how much she loved and had missed him, something that she told all her children over and over again.**

**Not far away, Tess was on her knees with her arms around both Jiba and Drel and her face buried between theirs, as tears of joy flowed freely down her cheeks, too. **

**Mareeya and Ceelya, sitting in Alex's arms, with Isabel hanging onto them, were all smiles. Though they might have been a little big by now to hold both at the same time, Alex wasn't complaining. He had scooped them both up in one fell swoop, and right now, he could have held twice as much weight easily and not even noticed.**

**Amy and Liz-Jolee held onto Varec as though they might have to split him in half to satisfy them both, and Varec loved it.**

**Danyy Valenti threw his arms around Jim, who held his younger son and smiled from ear to ear, as his eyes grew misty. Kyle walked up to Jim and smiled… then nodded to his father. Jim nodded back then unexpectedly reached out and pulled Kyle to him and hugged him, too.**

**Feeling something nudge his arm, Danyy turned around and saw Jung-Jo, who had sneaked up silently at his side while he was hugging his father. Danyy squealed with delight and threw his arms around Jung-Jo's neck and hugged him, too. Jung-Jo closed his eyes, his face etched with the classic expression of a very happy feline. He may have been a pawgor, a distant alien relative, perhaps, of saber-tooth tigers, but he was just a big, happy kitty cat right now. And like all the others, Jung-Jo was glad to be home. As everyone hugged and kissed, laughter gave way to sobs, then sobs gave way to laughter again. **

**Home. It felt good! It felt so very good… to everyone!**

**The driver pulled the hovercar into the parking area beside the palace and passed his hand over a small symbol on the console. Instantaneously, the car and its occupants were transported down into the palace garage adjoining the underground portions of the palace. The engines, already whisper-quiet, whirred to a stop, then the car's doors rose upward and Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, and Varec got out and walked to the side, as a second vehicle, a longer one, appeared in the place of the first one, which had already transported back out. As the doors of the second vehicle rose, Isabel, Alex, Tess, Rayylar, Jim, Kathleen, and several of the children got out. Once everyone was there, they all walked together down a short hallway then took a large, lavishly-appointed ascension chamber up to the main floor of the palace. The palace ascension chambers more closely resembled rooms than simple elevators. There were comfortable chairs to sit in, and the floors were carpeted. No one sat down this time, though. The ride up was short, and they were too excited. As the chamber stopped and the door opened, they stepped out to find the royal palace staff lined up waiting to greet them… and all smiles. **

**"Welcome home, Zan! Welcome home, My Lady!" the Antarian lady closest to them said enthusiastically. "It has been a long time. We missed you." She turned and smiled at Maria… "My Lady… and Rath! It is good to have you back, too!"**

**"It's been too long, Ami'tya," Max replied with a smile. "We missed you, too. We missed our homes and families."**

**"We're really, really very glad to be back," Liz added, giving Ami'tya, then the others in turn, males and females alike, a warm and heartfelt hug. At the moment, it just seemed right. **

**"Someone is waiting to see you, Zan," Ami'tya said, pointing toward the parlor, as Liz hugged the last staff person.**

**Max looked at Michael with a puzzled look. "We just got back. Who else would know that we were here before we even got back to the palace?"**

**Michael thought for a minute. "That's a good question, Max… one that I'd like an answer to. Come on."**

**Michael and Max walked into the parlor, and Michael instantly scowled and turned around to walk back out without saying a word.**

**"Michael? Where are you going?" Maria asked, coming in behind him as he tried to leave.**

**"Anywhere… anywhere but here."**

**"Maybe they have something important to tell us," Maria insisted.**

**"Nothing I want to hear," Michael replied, gently moving Maria out of his way.**

**"Maybe we should hear them out," Max said cautiously, taking Michael by the arm.**

**Michael spun around to face Max… "Why? So they can tell me that I screwed up time again or… or… changed what was meant to be… or… that they're going to change everything back the way it was? I don't want to hear it, Max!"**

**Max looked at Durj'ori, the Nogi-K'ya, then at the Drax-ta-Kiya of Jeroglasst questioningly. The question was unspoken, but they understood.**

**"It is true, we disapprove of capricious changes to the time continuum… the river," Durj'ori said.**

**"See?" Michael said, waving his hand in frustration then turning on Durj'ori…**

**"This is a family and friends reunion, Durj'ori! Which you are not either of! You understand that? We just got back from… from hell… or somewhere just about as fun. You're the last person I want to see or talk to right now!" Michael took Durj'ori by the arm to escort him to the door then reached back to get the Drax-ta-Kiya with his other hand. "You, too, Drax. No offense, but I don't want to hear that you guys are just calmly going to undo everything that we accomplished in the other dimension. And I don't want to know it if I messed up the time continuum… river… thingamawhiz that you guys play and romp in all the time. So just get out! Make an appointment. I'll try to work you in… say in about a hundred years. That's the way you guys do things, isn't it?"**

**"That is fine for me," Durj'ori said, "but you may be a very old man."**

**"I'll risk it," Michael scowled. "Besides, that's what I was hoping… to be a very old man before I ever see you again."**

**"When you change what was meant to be," Durj'ori explained, oblivious to Michael's protest, "you risk dire effects to the entire universe… unknown and dire effects. That is why the Nogi-K'ya are so careful."**

**"Yeah, well, I don't give a yegg's hairy ass," Michael replied caustically, shoving Durj'ori further toward the door. **

**At this point, Max couldn't help coming to Michael's defense…**

**"Michael didn't do this on his own, Durj'ori. I agreed with it. It was the right thing to do. If you have a grievance, it will have to be with me, too."**

**"Me, too," Liz said, stepping forward.**

**"And me, too," Maria said, stepping up and taking Michael's arm protectively.**

**"You'll have to take it up with all of us," Alex said, stepping forward to add his own voice to those of the others. **

**"Durj'ori," Isabel said, in an unmistakably threatening and icy tone, "if you change what happened in that dimension, and those… those… our doubles there die and never find the happiness or freedom that we helped them find, I'll make sure, personally, that all your remaining days are miserable beyond belief."**

**Isabel had no idea how she might make good on that threat. After all, the Nogi-K'ya were semi-immortal. They did die, but only after billions of years… even the Nogi-K'ya were unsure exactly what their life spans were. But Durj'ori took a step back as Isabel stepped toward him. It seemed that even the semi-immortal Nogi-K'ya knew when to retreat. And the look in Isabel's eyes was saying that this would be a very good time. **

**"Actually," the Drax-ta-Kiya said, "Durj'ori and I are not here to condemn you or your activities in the other dimension." **

**The Drax-ta-Kiya was not an ally of the Nogi-K'ya, nor were their causes normally the same, but he felt that it would be best, for both of their sakes, if this were clarified quickly.**

**""You aren't?" Maria asked.**

**"We are not," Durj'ori replied.**

**"Then why are you here," Michael asked, still not convinced. "Why should I believe that you're not here to gang up on me for changing the river of time or something? You may already have changed everything back the way it was before we went there to help our doubles? Are you going to swear that you didn't change anything back… or that you won't change it back later?"**

**"We will not… we did not," Durj'ori said.**

**Michael seemed to relax noticeably when Durj'ori said this. "Okay… well… okay… that's good to know…"**

**"Actually, we came to commend you," the Drax-ta-Kiya said. "It would seem that your trip was very successful… and the results have been… acceptable."**

**"Acceptable… I guess that's high praise coming from you," Michael said. **

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled. "Neither Durj'ori nor I are able to leave this dimension. The Nogi-K'ya are not bound by time, but they are restricted to this dimension. And I have not mastered the concept of traveling through dimensional time or space. In that respect… and some others… Kryys' powers are far greater than my own… he merely needs… guidance. He is, after all, still only a child."**

**Michael nodded, for once in total agreement with what the Drax-ta-Kiya was saying.**

**"I have always appreciated your guidance… and I appreciate your helping Kryys to understand his powers and use them wisely," Michael admitted.**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled slightly and nodded. "That has always been my pleasure."**

**"The reason we are not displeased with what you have done in the other dimensions," Durj'ori added, "is that you did not change time there. You changed their present. That is acceptable, especially when it is for… what you would call… a good cause."**

**"Then you agree that it was a good cause," Michael asked.**

**Durj'ori nodded. "Changing time always has consequences that are difficult to foresee. The Nogi-K'ya may take hundreds of years tracing all the ripples that will occur in the time continuum if a particular change is made… before permitting the change to be made. When you went into your past here, you changed time, and there were consequences. But this time, that did not occur."**

**"Everything came out okay, though, after I went into my past before," Michael insisted cautiously. "Didn't it?"**

**"You brought back a plague… I believe you called it the Zwolinski plague. Fortunately, you and Max survived it."**

**Michael winced painfully, as Durj'ori reminded him, and his head slumped… **

**"I was unable to save thousands of other Antarians who died from it, though. I was responsible for their deaths for bringing the plague to Antar." **

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled again… or appeared to smile… almost, as he sometimes was prone to do. One was never quite sure. **

**"Rath, you really must do a census on your planet sometime. After you and Zan came out of it, there was a slight shift in the flow of time. I don't guess you would have noticed."**

**"A shift… how? What does that mean," Max asked.**

**"The people who died never died, Zan."**

**"But… how…"**

**"A slight nudge to the river of time."**

**"You did that?" **

**The Drax-ta Kiya shook his head.**

**"Who then?" Max asked. Then his eyes widened with sudden intuition… "Kryys?"**

**"No. Kryys wanted to do it, but he knew that the river held another future, so he waited. The Nogi-K'ya did it."**

**"The Nogi K'ya? Without a ten thousand year study? They're getting reckless and carefree," Max exclaimed reflexively, with more than a touch of sarcasm.**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled. Max thought that it was the first time he had ever seen him actually smile. **

**"They thought that they sort of owed it to you." **

**"No argument there," Michael said. "They screwed up the whole time thing in the first place. It caused us a lot of grief."**

**"Well, they apparently had a contingency plan… a plan worked out over several millennia… for dealing with such an emergency. When their other efforts failed to produce the desired results in the time needed for… more mortal beings like us… they fell back on the plan. They have corrected all the anomalies now. Those things which still remain uncorrected were deemed… acceptable."**

**"Acceptable?" Max repeated with a tone of exasperation. "Acceptable? What is acceptable about making mistakes and then just leaving them that way?"**

**"Your baby, Jeffy, was a mistake, Zan. He was created in a different time bubble, a bubble that no longer exists… a bubble that perhaps never really existed in the real sense of time, as you know it. If the Nogi-K'ya had returned everything to the way it was, without allowing for exceptions, there would be no Jeffy."**

**Max swallowed hard then nodded. "I guess I do owe them then."**

**"It would seem so."**

**"What else did they not change back?"**

**"They left almost everything that Rath… or Michael… did in the alternate time line he was in the way he changed it. They deemed the changes he caused to be… desirable."**

**Max looked at Michael, and Michael shrugged.**

**"Dumas Zwolinski will grow up to be a different person because of your intervention," Durj'ori said, turning to Michael. "Hank won't change, but he'll stop and think first now, and that will lead to small improvements in his behavior. The ripples from these and other changes that you caused will touch many other people through the millennia. We have traced and plotted these changes and have deemed them all desirable… so we have allowed them to remain. We do not believe in changing time, but we believe that after it has been changed, all possible time lines must be considered."**

**"So I did something right?" Michael asked cautiously.**

**The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled again. "Apparently so."**

**Michael seemed momentarily stunned, then a bemused look came over his face. Max saw it and smiled. **

**Maria put both of her arms around Michael and hugged him. "Well, I knew you were right, Michael. I've always known it. You've always been right as far as I was concerned… no matter what anyone else out there might have thought. When you were searching for yourself in the past, all of us here knew who you were… and we know who you are. You're someone with a heart. Whether you're painting beautiful portraits or saving kidnapped children or protecting the kingdom or… or being my soul mate… you're someone with a heart. I don't think that can ever be wrong. In the end, it's the only thing in this universe that can be right."**

**Isabel nodded and stood beside Maria. "You know I haven't always agreed with you on everything, Michael…"**

**Michael grinned, remembering how he had goaded and irritated Isabel with his off-the-cuff remarks when Liz and Alex from the other dimension had been here with them.**

**"But I could have told the Nogi-K'ya what Maria just said… without a ten-thousand-year study," Isabel continued. Then she turned to Durj'ori… "We're glad you guys finally figured it out."**

**Durj'ori thought about expounding on the possibilities of having good intentions and still making mistakes, especially in matters affecting time, but he wisely had second thoughts. Instead, he just nodded.**

**"Well," the Drax-ta-Kiya said, standing up. "There is an interesting expression among the people of the planet that Rath grew up on… 'All's well that ends well.' I, uh… I think we can all agree that, in this case, at least, that quaint saying is true. Durj'ori… if you will accompany me, perhaps we should leave these people alone now so that they can enjoy their homecoming. Oh, and… Zan… have you had any more dreams about flying?"**

**"How did you…?" Max started to ask, but the Drax-ta-Kiya held up one hand…**

**"Don't forget that letter of acquaintance that the shapeshifter, Ta'lan, gave you to give to her double in this dimension. It may be… eye-opening." Having said this, the Drax-ta-Kiya dissolved into a billion tiny glowing atoms and disappeared, taking Durj'ori with him.**

**Max looked at Liz and reached into his pocket for the crumpled paper.**

**"I had almost forgotten it. So much has happened in seven months."**

**"What does it say," Maria asked.**

**Max shook his head. "I don't know. It's sealed. Ta'lan said to give it to her double as soon as we could after we got back home. She said it would explain some things… and it's our gift from her and Rahn for helping Rahn and bringing their king back."**

**"Then I guess we need to make a trip to the Kec'je shapeshifters' valley," Michael said, "But not today. Tomorrow… or the next day maybe. Today, I just want to be with my family again… in my own home." Michael put his arm around Maria and smiled… "And I have a special gift for you, Maria, of my own."**

**Maria grinned and hugged Michael. "Ta'lan's gift can wait another day, I think. Right now I need yours a lot more."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The Kec'je secret**


	69. Rath68

The Four Faces Of Rath 

**Ta'lan**

**Chapter 68**

**LXVIII**

**Ta'lan unfolded the crumpled note that Max had given her and read it… then she turned it around several times aimlessly, as though thinking about it, and read it again. After several minutes, she folded it back up carefully, smoothed it out with her hand, and handed it back to Max.**

**"You say this was given to you by me… only in another dimension… my double?"**

**Max nodded. "Yes… Exactly."**

**Ta'lan stood up and walked around Max and Michael then turned and looked at them…**

**"I must say, I was never convinced that things like alternate dimensions really existed. This is… well… extraordinary if it is true." Then, apparently remembering that Max was their king, she quickly added, "I'm not saying that it's not true, of course, only that it is… extraordinary."**

**"We understand," Liz said. "We thought the same thing. We didn't know until recently that alternate dimensions existed either. I mean… it's always been in the realm of possibility… a theory. But no one had ever proved it… well… that we know of anyway."**

**Without replying, except with a slight wave of her hand, Ta'lan unexpectedly walked into the next room and returned with a tray of drinks. She passed the tray around, and each one took one of the thin, fourteen-inch tall, one-inch wide high-fluted glasses filled with a bluish-amber liquid. The odd, constantly color-changing liquid was pretty… perhaps even appealing… in a strange, alien way.**

**This is a Ke'cje drink called da'nish," Ta'lan said, as they each took a glass from the tray. "It is quite good. You will like it."**

**Ta'lan watched, but only Kyle took a drink. The others sat with their drinks in their hands, waiting.**

**"Max, this is really good," Kyle said enthusiastically, taking another sip. "Try it!"**

**"I would wait if I were you, Kyle," Michael said.**

**"This is too good to wa… wait," Kyle said, already beginning to slur his words.**

**"Why don't all of you drink," Ta'lan asked with an innocent smile.**

**"We're waiting for cookies," Michael replied.**

**"Qnist'as," Liz corrected.**

**"Micha… Mi-chael!" Kyle slurred, "That's rude, man! You don… don… don't go iv somewuz house 'n jus' ask for coo… cookies. Ha… hav some mannnners."**

**"Qnist'as," Max replied, "Their called qnist'as. You don't drink da'nish without qnist'as, Kyle. They keep you from getting bombed… like you are now."**

**"Oh," Kyle replied with a giddy smile, taking yet another sip. "Now yoush tellsh me."**

**Ta'lan smiled and nodded then stood up and went back into the other room, reemerging momentarily with another tray, this one piled high with qnist'as.**

**"I was testing you," she said as she passed the tray around, "But I guess you know that. I had to be sure you really had been in a Ke'cje house and had not been tricked by another species of shapeshifters… some of the bad ones… especially the shadow dwellers. They're not Antarian."**

**Max nodded. "Kyle wasn't with us in the other dimension until we started back. His double was there, but our Kyle stayed here with his wife and all the kids when we went. We needed someone to stay behind and take care of things here. He didn't know about the da'nish or the qnist'as."**

**Kyle smiled and held his glass up in a toast, looking through the sometimes bluish, sometimes amber fluid with one eye closed and a big smile on his face.**

**"Eat your cookie, Kyle," Maria said, sticking one of the qnist'as in his mouth. Kyle sputtered but chewed the cookie and swallowed it. Within seconds, a change began to come over him, as he began to sober up, and his face reddened a bit as he suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him…**

**"What happened? Did I do something to embarrass myself?"**

**Liz smiled and shook her head. "No. You just got a little drowsy for a moment there, Kyle. You have to eat the qnist'as with your da'nish or you wind up in la-la-land."**

**"Oh." Kyle heaved a cautious sigh of relief, apparently not quite remembering what he had or had not just done. "That's strong stuff, isn't it?" he said, taking another bite of qnist'a then another sip of his da'nish. "It's really good, though."**

**The others all ate one of the qnist'as then took a sip of the bluish-amber fluid.**

**"It is good," Liz agreed. "Just don't ever forget the qnist'as."**

**"I won't ever again," Kyle said with a sheepish grin. "Trust me on that!"**

**"So explain to me exactly how you came to meet my double in this other dimension," Ta'lan said, sitting back down to listen. "It is unusual for outsiders to come here to the Ke'cje valley… and when they do, they usually do not remember anything when they leave."**

**"Not if they drink some of that da'nish," Kyle nodded.**

**"The Qu'rosk trees," Liz said. "It's the Qu'rosk trees. They're everywhere. They're beautiful but intoxicating to outsiders."**

**"Is everything here intoxicating," Kyle asked.**

**Ta'lan smiled and shook her head.**

**"Just the da'nish… and the flowers on the trees. Their fragrance gives everyone a feeling of well-being. The Ke'cje are accustomed to it, and we can tolerate it, but outsiders become somewhat giddy and talkative. They forget where they are. Once they have breathed the fragrance for a while, everyone talks. And when they leave, they forget where they have been. But we do not get many visitors. In this valley, we are well-protected by high surrounding cliffs on every side."**

**"How do you get out, then," Kyle asked.**

**"We fly."**

**"Fly? Oh, right… you can shapeshift. Are we going to forget we were here when we leave?"**

**Ta'lan shook her head again. "Not if you do not breathe the fragrance of the Qu'rosk trees' flowers outside for very long. Now tell me how you met my double in the other dimension."**

**"Well," Max said, setting his glass down on the tray, "it was Rahn who led us there… here… to the Ke'cje valley."**

**"Rahn!" Ta'lan exclaimed.**

**Momentarily startled by Ta'lan's reaction, Max stopped talking.**

**"Go on, please," Ta'lan coaxed.**

**"Don't be mad at Rahn," Max said. "He was helping me… my double, I mean… to get his kingdom back."**

**"I'm not mad at Rahn," Ta'lan said. "I'm sad. When you mentioned Rahn's name, my heart jumped. He is… was… like a son to me. I practically raised him myself. I taught him everything he knows. And I haven't seen him in… I think it's been sixty… seventy years now. Rahn would have contacted me before now if he had been able to. I can only assume…"**

**Ta'lan's voice trailed off, and her eyes misted up.**

**"Omigod," Liz said softly, touching Max on the arm. "Max, do you think…"**

**"…that he's still a prisoner on the base back on earth?" Max asked, finishing Liz's sentence for her. "I don't know. Our doubles rescued him in the other dimension. In our dimension, we never did."**

**Liz looked at Maria, and both of them sat in stunned silence, their mouths open for several moments.**

**"We can't abandon Rahn," Maria said. "He helped us so much… He's like… one of us."**

**"This Rahn doesn't even know us," Michael pointed out quite correctly, though no one there felt that to be the case after all they had been through with his double in the other dimension. Even Michael seemed to be trying to convince himself of it… and not very successfully.**

**"Well we just got back from a very long and difficult trip," Max said. "I guess we could plan a rescue mission, though. I'll ask Varec how long it would take the New Granolith to get to earth at the fastest speed."**

**"We don't need to do that," Liz said. "We're in our own dimension. The spheres will work here."**

**Maria's eyes lit up, and a smile came over her face.**

**"I'll be the one to go," Michael said. "I can rescue him if things get hairy."**

**"There won't be anything to get hairy," Liz replied confidently. "I'll go. All I have to do is pop into his cell, get him, and bring him back. They'll never even know where he went."**

**"I don't think that's a good idea," Michael objected. "I should be the one to go. You and Max are needed here."**

**"Oh, like, and you're not?" Liz asked defiantly. "Michael, you're needed here as much as anybody… much more than I'm needed…"**

**"I wouldn't go that far," Max said with a half smile. "No offense Michael."**

**"None taken."**

**"I thought Dan Klein ended all that crazy alien hunting stuff in our dimension after the president made him the head of the agency," Alex said. "Do you really think they could still be holding someone on the base and no one knows about it?"**

**Max nodded solemnly. "I think it's possible. Dan wouldn't even have to know about it. The president wouldn't even have to know about it. Those guys didn't answer to anyone. They were a renegade unit. They thought they were saving the world. Zwolinski may have been changed when Michael went back to the past, but there was that FBI guy, Pierce, and there were others who were just as bad who were part of that whole thing. I think it's possible. We won't know for sure until we go there and find out."**

**Michael turned around to Liz to insist that she give him control of the sphere, but at that moment, Liz stepped through the portal, which she had quietly called while the others were talking. As the portal closed up behind her, Liz said simply, "Take me to Rahn."**

**In her haste to rescue a friend, Liz hadn't followed her own cardinal rule: use the sphere of visions first to see where you may be going. Liz stepped out of the portal only to find herself looking into a very bright light. For a moment, she was blinded by it, but then she made out some things around her… It looked like a lab of some kind. The walls were bare and white. And under the center of the lights lay a man on a gurney. He appeared to be connected to various different wires and devices, and she couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. Liz stepped forward to find out, and that's when something hit her from behind… hard. The room spun momentarily, as she collapsed to her knees then to the floor and the bright lights disappeared into darkness. As she lay there in a state of semi-consciousness, she vaguely heard voices around her…**

**"Where did she come from?"**

**"I don't know. She just appeared out of nowhere… She must have made herself invisible to get in."**

**"You think she's one of them? She may have been sent to rescue him. Could she be one of his people?"**

**There was no answer from the second man.**

**"Only one way to find out, I guess," the first voice said. "This guy over here's never been any use to us. Almost seventy years of shock treatments, probes… I've even removed bits of his organs… and he still won't tell us anything or do anything that's nonhuman at all… except for the fact that he's lasted this long and doesn't look a day older than when he was brought in here… or so they tell me… I wasn't even born then myself."**

**"I'm telling you," the second voice said, "He doesn't understand our language."**

**"He understands," the first voice said confidently, "He understands. He's just stubborn. Let's see what it will take to get this one to talk."**

**"And if she doesn't?"**

**There was a pause, then the first man replied, "We dissect her… piece by piece. One way or the other, I'm getting something out of this one."**

**"Oh my God," Liz thought with a sick feeling, as she drifted into unconsciousness, "The white room. What have I done?"**

**tbc**


	70. Rath69

The Four Faces Of Rath

**The Whitest Room**

**Chapter 69**

**LXIX**

**Liz opened her eyes slowly and noticed a light shining in her face from above. She seemed to be lying on something hard now, but she didn't think it was the floor. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious. Her first thought was to check herself over to see if anything had been removed… not clothes… but organs, tissue samples, or the like. After a quick appraisal, she decided, with some relief, that she had not been cut… at least not yet. Even her clothes were still intact. This was definitely a good sign! Another good sign was that she did not appear to be tied up, chained, manacled, or otherwise restrained. But where was everybody?**

**Liz looked around the room. It was even whiter than she remembered it… almost bleached white now… as though scoured of all color by some very powerful detergent or force. In fact, it was probably the "whitest" room she had ever seen in her life. And it appeared that she was the only person there. It was perplexing… and more than a little bit discomfiting. She would rather have her torturers where she could see them. Being all alone in the room made a cold shiver of anticipation go up her spine. What were they planning? And why had they left her here all alone and unrestrained? **

**She took a deep breath and told herself that it really didn't matter. They couldn't hurt her… well, not when she was awake and conscious anyway. She had the sphere of protection. All she had to do was call on it. She didn't know exactly what it would do to protect her, but she knew with absolute certainty that it would. Of this there wasn't the slightest doubt. **

**But where was everybody? And where was the man she had seen on the gurney before? Had that been Rahn? She never got close enough to be sure. One thing she did know for sure, though, was that she wasn't going to just lie here like a lamb on the altar of some FBI or army rejects' paranoia and just wait for them to return and have their way with her.**

**Liz leapt from the gurney with a bounce and headed for the door. She knew that she could call the portal and it would take her straight back home… or anywhere else she wanted to go. But that wouldn't save Rahn, and she was determined to return the favor Rahn had shown them in the other dimension by saving him now… or his double… in this one. Carefully, Liz opened the door just a crack and peeked out. At first, her mind refused to accept what she was seeing, and she shook her head and looked again. Then she opened the door all the way.**

**There was nothing outside the room… just the blackness of space… the twinkling of distant stars… the vastness of the cosmos.**

**"What the…" **

**Liz leaned forward carefully, holding onto both sides of the doorway with her hands, and looked down. There was nothing below the room, either, as far as she could see, except space. And yet… there was breathable atmosphere in the room… even with the door wide open.**

**"What happened," Liz asked rhetorically, knowing that there was no one there to answer. In her place, most people would have been terrified, but Liz was calm… perplexed and confused… but calm. She knew that she could get home anytime by calling the portal; she wasn't stuck here. But then again… after the events of the last seven months… through various alternate dimensions… who could be sure of anything? Liz suddenly began to sweat, as fear crept up her spine. Just to be sure, she called out, and the portal appeared. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and relaxed again.**

**"It's alright. I don't need you yet. I… I'll call you again when I'm ready… soon."**

**The portal disappeared as it had come, leaving Liz alone with her thoughts. She looked out the door again. Nothing. Just stars twinkling in the distant vast darkness of space.**

**"Maybe I'm hallucinating. Maybe I'm not really awake. They gave me something and I'm hallucinating." Liz looked at her hands and decided that it was really her, not a hallucination.**

**"Where is Rahn?" she asked, again knowing that no answer would be forthcoming.**

**She looked around and then called for the sphere of visions…**

**"Please show me Rahn… right now."**

**A mist appeared in the room, and as it smoothed out and became calm, a vision appeared in its midst. But the vision was almost as much a riddle as what was going on here. In the mist, Liz saw only the room she was in… and the gurney. There was no Rahn.**

**"I… I guess I wasn't clear," Liz said, almost apologetically, "I said 'Rahn,' not 'room.'"**

**Liz waited, but there was no change in the vision. Exasperated, she sighed and waved her hand dismissively…**

**"You may go. Thank you."**

**The mist disappeared, and Liz rubbed her hands together nervously. "That never happened before. The sphere never made mistakes… not like that." Liz looked at the gurney. The vision had shown her the gurney. Could Rahn be hiding under it maybe? Liz picked up the sheet that hung down from the side of the gurney, but there was nothing underneath. She looked around the room again then leaned back on the gurney and put both hands behind herself to boost herself up onto it… The gurney moved.**

**Believing that she had moved the gurney with her weight, Liz pushed it up against the wall then tried to sit on it again. It moved again.**

**"Okay, that's not normal," Liz mused out loud. "Rahn, if that's you, turn yourself back into… something I can recognize NOW!" **

**As she said this, the gurney stretched and contorted, but it all happened so fast that Liz was unable to follow the motions until it was too late. The "gurney" had become a snake… a very large snake… perhaps a python or an anaconda from the look of it, though Liz wasn't trying to identify it; she just wanted to get it off of her. Unable to move her arms, as the huge serpent coiled and tightened against them, Liz let go with a very "un-Liz-like" string of epithets, disparaging everything that slithered on the ground and even some snake mamas.**

**This seemed to have an unexpected effect. The huge snake relaxed its grip, if only slightly, and turned its head to look directly into Liz's eyes, its forked tongue flicking only inches from her face.**

**"I know you've got a crush on me, but if we're going to get all warm and cozy," Liz said feistily, turning her face to one side, "Can we at least skip the tongue?"**

**The serpent held its tongue momentarily, but apparently was unable to do so for long. Within seconds, the tongue flicked out again. Then the serpent relaxed its grip and began to change… this time into a man.**

**"Alright, Rahn, you've got some explaining to do," Liz said, clearly irritated, after the change was complete.**

**"You are the one who must explain," Rahn replied calmly. "I could change back into a serpent again and hold you that way… or swallow you if I wanted to. I only let you go because it seems that it is impossible to keep my tongue in my mouth as you demanded… to be a snake and not to be a snake. It just happens reflexively. And also, I let you go because we must talk."**

**"You don't want to eat me, Rahn. I'd give you indigestion."**

**"I do not believe that you would cause me any digestive upset," Rahn said, looking Liz over.**

**"Well, let's assume that I would," Liz insisted firmly and with finality.**

**"Who are you," Rahn asked. What did you do that made… this happen?" Rahn indicated the void beyond the door.**

**Liz looked at the gaping void… "I was kind of hoping you could tell me that. I don't know what happened. I came here to save you and take you home to Antar… to Ta'lan… but someone hit me from behind, and when I woke up, this is where I was. Well… actually… I was lying… on top of the gurney… on top of… you." Liz looked at Rahn.**

**"Yes, well, there is an explanation for that," Rahn said, "You know Ta'lan?" **

**Rahn appeared to be moved at the mention of Ta'lan's name.**

**"She's waiting for me to return with you. Now about that explanation…?"**

**Rahn smiled just slightly. "Well, at the exact moment you were hit on the head, it was like everything exploded in the room. When I could see again, you were lying on the floor unconscious. I needed to talk to you… to learn what had happened… but I assumed that you had caused it and might try to kill me like you killed the others… so I pushed the gurney out the door and took its place… to hide myself from you until I could be sure of your intent. I lifted you onto my back so that I would know when you woke up. Sometimes I… go to sleep."**

**"Wait… The explosion killed the other men…?" Liz asked, shocked.**

**Rahn nodded. "They were ejected from the room by some great force. They floated away in space, so I would say that it killed them, yes."**

**"The sphere of protection!" Liz exclaimed softly, realizing what must have happened. "It had to be the sphere of protection. I didn't call it, but it saved us once before when no one even knew that we were in danger. It must have thrown the whole white room into space and thrown them out to protect me."**

**"Why did it not also kill me?" Rahn asked.**

**"I guess it knew that you wouldn't harm me. I don't know how it knows, but it always seems to. If you had really intended to hurt me, you would have died when you pounced on me as a snake."**

**"Then I think it was a good thing that I did not try to eat you," Rahn said dryly. It was impossible for Liz to know if he was joking or serious. Rahn rarely displayed his true feelings openly, though his double had shown an amazing amount of emotion -for a shapeshifter- when he had seen his home valley again from the New Granolith's window for the first time in seventy years.**

**"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but go home… to Antar," Liz said with a smile. "This room can just stay out here… wherever 'here' is. The men who were holding you can't hurt either of us anymore… or anyone else. You're a free man, Rahn… I mean, a free Ke'cje. Are you ready to go home?"**

**Rahn's face, not usually easily readable, became a jumbled mass of emotions, as the reality of his new situation actually began to dawn on him. He was free. He really could go home. Home!**

**"How long will it take to get there?"**

**"How long does it take to step through a portal?" Liz asked, smiling. "PORTAL!"**

**When Liz called, the portal appeared. It looked more like a large, borderless, free-floating mirror than a portal. Rahn touched it, and his touch sent ripples spreading from one side of the "mirror" to the other.**

**"Come on," Liz said, taking Rahn by the hand. Then she stepped into the "mirror," taking Rahn with her. **

**They stepped out in Ta'lan's living room.**

**Shapeshifters don't show emotion. It was almost an axiom on Antar. And oceans don't suddenly dry up and stone walls don't generally move… but they can crumble. Liz looked at Max and smiled, tears coming to her own eyes, as Ta'lan rushed forward to hold Rahn, and the two revealed a side of the Ke'cje shapeshifters that few, outside of their own people, had ever witnessed. **

**Rahn was the long-missing child, believed dead, returning home at last. Ta'lan was the "mother" he had always known… practically the only mother he had ever known. She had raised him after his own mother disappeared when he was barely more than a toddler. Rahn still remembered his real mother, but it was Ta'lan who had filled that position with so much love and affection for so many years of his life. And a shapeshifter's years were long. Rahn, who was over a hundred years old now, was barely out of adolescence, a young man just coming into his prime.**

**"Rahn what happened," Ta'lan asked, wiping tears from her eyes. "Where were you all this time?"**

**"On Eluymer… a place they call earth. I went there with the original scouts. It was supposed to be a quick trip. We were going to find a place for the pods and wait for the carekeepers then return home. It didn't work out that way."**

**"No, it didn't," Ta'lan said, giving Rahn yet another kiss on the cheek. Liz didn't even know that shapeshifters did that. "But then… why not," she asked herself. "They're basically human after all… more or less… kind of. Different but basically no different." Liz smiled and leaned on Max, and he pulled her closer into his arms. Maria leaned over unexpectedly and kissed Michael, who smiled and put his arm around her then kissed her back. Alex and Isabel leaned into each other and just sighed. It was a good moment… one of those wonderful, happy moments that are all too rare… and it brought a warm, abiding glow to all their hearts.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Ta'lan honors the request made by her double from the other dimension.**


	71. Rath70

The Four Faces Of Rath 

**The Request**

**Chapter 70**

**LXX**

**Ta'lan hugged Rahn one last time then looked at Max and smiled. **

**"It would seem, Zan, that you have been a good friend to me… and to Rahn… in two dimensions. For that, I wish to thank you."**

**"You're welcome," Max said politely, returning the smile. "But it was nothing really. Rahn helped us, too… in the other dimension, I mean."**

**Ta'lan nodded. "Still, you brought Rahn home again… in both dimensions. That is something that I cannot forget or allow to go unrewarded."**

**"We don't want any reward, Ta'lan," Liz said, holding one hand up to stop her. "Seeing Rahn back home again and happy is enough reward for us." **

**Everyone nodded, and several voiced their agreement. Ta'lan took a deep breath and sighed, glancing at her newly returned adopted "son" again… then she continued,**

**"My double in the other dimension that you were in suggested a proper reward, and I am inclined to agree with her." Ta'lan held up her own hand to stop Liz before she could object again. "It is appropriate for several reasons. My double has already offered it to your doubles in her dimension… for their help. That is one reason. And I see from her note that my estranged mate, J'Shalo, has already taken an irreversible step that I can only repair now by also offering you the gift that my double suggested."**

**Liz looked at Max, and Max shrugged. Ta'lan in the other dimension had invited all of them and their doubles to a big dinner at her house before they left. The doubles, who were from that dimension, had gone somewhere with Ta'lan later to receive their "gift," but Max and the crew from the New Granolith had departed for their own dimension immediately after the dinner, and Ta'lan had given Max the note then, asking him to give it to her double in this dimension once he was back home again. The note was sealed, and Max had no idea what she had written in it, but he knew that it was to be some kind of reward. He had carried the message with him for the last seven months while they were lost somewhere in interdimensional limbo, finding dozens of Antars only to discover time and again that none of them was their own. In all honesty, Max had almost forgotten about the note. It hadn't been high on his list of priorities lately. After the first month of being lost in the interdimensional chasm, Max had begun to seriously wonder whether or not they would ever see their own Antar again or even ever meet the Ta'lan of their own dimension.**

**"How did you meet J'Shalo," Ta'lan asked.**

**Max looked at Michael and Michael looked at Rahn, who had no idea at all what they were talking about, since it had been the other Rahn who had helped them in the other dimension and this one knew nothing about what had happened to them there.**

**"Actually," Michael said, "J'Shalo found us… on the New Granolith… a few days before we left earth to go to Antar there. Our doubles in that dimension had never heard of him before. He never came to Roswell with Tess there like he did in our dimension… the first time they ever saw him was when he showed up on the ship and tried to kill us all. But in our dimension, when we lived on earth, we knew him as Nasedo."**

**"Yes… some of that was in the note that my double sent. Do you know why he wanted to kill you?"**

**Max nodded. "He wanted our ship… to get back to Antar. Apparently, Tess took his ship and left him stranded on earth a couple of years ago. Then he found out that Kivar had been killed by one of his enslaved enemies and that no one was in control on their Antar at the moment, so he thought that he could take over and seize power, but he needed a ship to get back. J'Shalo tried to get Rahn to help him fly the New Granolith. When Rahn refused and threatened to reveal him, Nasedo… J'Shalo I mean… turned into a Xiangar viper and bit Rahn, leaving him to die."**

**Ta'lan winced. "And Rahn survived? How?"**

**"Liz's double… in the other dimension," Maria said proudly.**

**"Is she a shapeshifter?"**

**Maria shook her head. **

**"I don't understand then. How could she help Rahn? The Xiangar viper's poison is the deadliest substance known to the Ke'cjes in the whole universe. Only another Ke'cje might have been able to save him."**

**"Rahn told her what to do to purge the poison from his brain."**

**"But if she was not a shapeshifter, how could she have done that… and why didn't J'Shalo try to kill her, too, when he incapacitated everyone else on the ship?"**

**"He did try. But she wasn't affected by J'Shalo's touch. Rahn had made an adjustment to Liz's brain a few days before J'Shalo showed up. **

**Ta'lan looked surprised. "Why?"**

**"Rahn was trying to help her… to walk again. But because of the adjustment Rahn had already made to her brain, J'Shalo's touch didn't affect her like it did the rest of us. When J'Shalo touched the rest of us in our sleep, our brains went haywire. We would have all died within twenty-four hours. But Liz wasn't affected, because her brain had been prepared already, by Rahn, in a way that wouldn't harm her. She helped Rahn to eliminate the poison from his brain… and Rahn helped the rest of us…"**

**"By doing the correct alteration on all of you…"**

**Maria nodded.**

**Ta'lan ran her hand over her face and shook her head slowly. "If I ever catch J'Shalo again, I may bite him myself… as a viper, of course."**

**Maria smiled and laughed. "In a way, your double did. We caught J'Shalo. Well, Jung-Jo, the pawgor, did. J'Shalo had turned into a hawk… a large bird… to try to escape, but Jung-Jo snatched him out of the air. Max and Michael put him in a cage, and Rahn gave him just enough poison of the Xiangar viper to take away his power to shift back."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Interesting! But eventually such a small dose of the poison would wear off."**

**"He gets a tiny dose in every meal… to keep him that way. We took him back to your double in the other dimension, and she decided to leave him in the cage until he changes."**

**"Ha!" Ta'lan laughed. "J'Shalo is in trouble then!"**

**"You don't like him very much anymore, do you," Maria asked.**

**Ta'lan sighed. "It isn't as simple as that, Maria. J'Shalo was my mate. But that was a long time ago. He ran off and left the Ke'cje valley and everything we love here. No one knew where he went. J'Shalo cannot change. I still have some feelings for him, but I am realistic. He will not change. Too bad you didn't bring my J'Shalo home. I might have enjoyed having him in a cage where he couldn't run off and leave and not tell anyone or care about anyone he had left behind. A bird of prey would suit him. Besides, J'Shalo has caused a great deal of pain to many people besides me. He has no conscience… not like you do or I do. If he feels the need, he will simply kill you and then forget about it. He was never normal as a Ke'cje, and he gave outsiders a wrong impression of what the Ke'cjes are like. Fortunately, most of us stay in our valley where we are well-protected and happy. It doesn't matter so much what outsiders think. But no… J'Shalo is not normal by any standards that I know of."**

**"We figured that out already," Michael said, "When we knew him on earth. He was supposed to be our protector, but he killed people… like stepping on a bug. That's what he thought humans were basically. And the J'Shalo in the other dimension even tried to kill us."**

**Ta'lan nodded. "Well, because of what he did to your brains and because of what Rahn there had to do after that, your brains have been permanently altered. Not in a big way… but in a very important way. It is because of this, ironically, that I am able to offer you the gift that my double has asked me to offer to you… Didn't you tell me that Kyle was not with you in the other dimension?"**

**Liz nodded. "Not at first. Our Kyle did not meet J'Shalo. His double did… but not our Kyle… And Jeliya, his wife, wasn't there either."**

**Ta'lan reached over and touched Kyle on the temple and behind the ear at the same time then concentrated for a moment. Then she did the same to Jeliya.**

**"What did you do," Kyle asked. "Did you change my brain?"**

**"Only a little… and for the better," Ta'lan said with a smile, "Come!" **

**Ta'lan led the group out of her house and into her back yard, passing through some kind of door or portal on the back of the house that looked like a large, almost invisible membrane. She didn't open it but rather simply passed through it. The others followed. Michael turned back and touched the membrane they had just walked through. It was solid now… and hard as steel. And it was smoky-colored from the outside. From the inside, it had been clear as air and had simply flowed around them as they walked through it… like passing through a cloud.**

**"How do you get back in," Michael asked, tapping on the steel-hard doorway from the outside.**

**Ta'lan smiled. "When I am ready… it will let me in."**

**Alex ran his hand over the door, too, then looked at Michael. "That's solid, man."**

**Michael nodded.**

**"If you look up in that direction," Ta'lan said, pointing toward the east where the high mountains rose up around the Ke'cje valley, "You will see the T'chor Ja'nah. That's a mountain range that reaches into the high east winds that flow above our valley. In that mountain, there are many excellent aeries… places that we, as Ke'cjes, treasure."**

**"What's an aerie," Maria asked, looking at Liz.**

**"That's like a high lookout point… or an eagle's nest," Liz said.**

**"Somehow I just knew you'd know that," Maria laughed.**

**"It's a good word," Liz replied softly. **

**"For you it is," Maria chuckled. "I would have just said a 'ledge' or a 'nest.'"**

**Liz smiled.**

**"We will be going to the top of that mountain," Ta'lan said. "Normally, I would just fly up there, but you cannot do that, so we must walk to the mountain. Then Rahn and I will have to carry each of you up one at a time by your arms to the top of the mountain. We must fly up. It is the only way. Is everyone here okay with that?"**

**"We could get there faster," Liz offered cautiously, "With the portal."**

**This time it was Ta'lan's turn to be confused… "What portal?"**

**Liz held out her hand and called for the portal, and a mirror-like apparition suddenly materialized in front of her.**

**"This portal."**

**Ta'lan touched the portal, and it rippled, like touching water… but it wasn't water.**

**"What is this?"**

**"It's a portal. It will take us anywhere we want to go… in this dimension. It won't work in any other dimensions. I found that out."**

**"Where does it come from," Ta'lan asked, amazed.**

**"It's actually one of four spheres that were given to me by Shaqor Niseel of the planet Xarius. But I don't need to actually have the sphere in my possession to use it. I only need to call it."**

**"Amazing," Ta'lan said, clearly impressed. "How do you use it? Do you just step through… like my convex entry portal?"**

**"Follow me," Liz said. "Portal, please take us to the top of that mountain to the east, the one called the 'T'chor Ja'nah.' We would like to see…" Liz smiled and glanced at Maria… "an aerie."**

**Liz stepped into the portal, and, one by one, the others all followed. They stepped out on a high ledge overlooking the Ke'cje valley to a view that was breathtaking in beauty… and more than a little bit breathtaking in height."**

**"Omigosh!" Maria exclaimed, glancing down at the valley far below. "That's… awesome!" Quickly, she edged up next to Michael and lifted his arm and put it around herself… "Now's your time to shine, Spaceboy. Keep me from falling off of here. I'm not an eagle, you know."**

**Michael smiled. "I'll hang on to ya, Ree. Don't worry."**

**Actually, the place where they were standing was more than merely a ledge. They were standing on the edge of it overlooking the valley, but behind them was a rather substantial small, grassy plain that ran about a hundred feet before butting up against the mountain. And in the side of the mountain, there was a cave. Other than for the fact that Maria couldn't see any way a person could get up here unless they could fly or had a sphere like Liz's, Maria thought that this would be a great secluded hideaway for her and Michael… their own private… aerie. Maria smiled as that thought flitted through her mind. But who was she kidding? The only way she would ever get back up here again would be if she begged Liz to let her use the sphere. Not that Liz would mind. Liz had always been very generous, letting any of them use the sphere of the portal. But sometimes Maria just wanted to keep her intentions private except to herself and Michael.**

**"If you hold your arms out at your sides," Ta'lan said, "You can feel the wind flow under them. It feels like the wind will just lift you up."**

**"I think I'll keep my feet on the ground," Maria said. "I don't want to be lifted up unless I've got wings or something to get me back down safely."**

**The others laughed, but inside, most of them had pretty much the same feeling.**

**Ta'lan smiled. "I don't expect anyone to jump off of the cliff, but I want you to feel what I'm talking about."**

**One by one, each one extended his or her arms out to the sides and faced into the wind.**

**"Now close your eyes and imagine that there are wings on your backs. Feel them growing out across the backs of your arms. Feel the wind under them lifting you up…"**

**Isabel opened her eyes suddenly. "Is that what this is all about," she gasped, as she realized what Ta'lan's intentions were. "You're trying to teach us to… to shapeshift?"**

**Ta'lan just smiled.**

**"I don't think we can do that… can we?" Alex asked, more curious than afraid.**

**Liz shook her head. "Our bodies aren't capable of shapeshifting. That's why when J'Shalo did what he did to our brains it almost killed us. He made our brains produce uncontrollable impulses to shapeshift, but our bodies weren't able to… not successfully. It would have been fatal if Rahn hadn't altered our brains to allow us to control the impulses."**

**"Exactly," Ta'lan said. "And now you can control them."**

**Liz thought about it for a brief moment… "No… I mean, yes, we can control the impulses now, but our bodies haven't, you know, adapted over thousands of millennia to allow us to shapeshift the way yours and Rahn's have. I still don't know where you get the extra mass from to grow in size or where the mass goes when you reduce your size down to the size of a… a roadrunner, like Rahn did in the other dimension. Our bodies simply can't do that."**

**"That is probably true, Liz," Ta'lan agreed. "You have not had the many millennia to adapt the way we have. And your bodies probably cannot grow larger or smaller… at least not by any significant amount. But you can shapeshift. You can have wings. And you can fly."**

**Liz looked at Ta'lan with a look of total incredulity written all over her face. The whole idea flew in the face of everything she knew about science… or physics… or the human body. But something inside her was telling her that Ta'lan knew what she was talking about. It wasn't possible… but it was probably true. It was a contradiction that Liz, especially, found hard to reconcile in her mind.**

**"Bumblebees fly, don't they, Liz?" Maria asked.**

**"Yeah."**

**"And science says they shouldn't be able to fly… aerodynamically."**

**Liz looked momentarily thoughtful, then amused. "Maria! You WERE listening in science class!"**

**Maria rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe I learned a lot of things, Liz. I just don't let any of it blind me to other truths."**

**Liz laughed. "As crazy as that sounded, Maria, it made a whole lot of sense. Thanks, girlfriend!"**

**"Anytime."**

**Liz turned back to Ta'lan. "You really think we could grow wings?"**

**Ta'lan nodded.**

**"Where would the extra mass come from?"**

**Ta'lan smiled. "From within you. In order to fly, Liz, two things have to happen. You have to have wings… and you have to be lighter. Fortunately, when we grow wings, the mass needed for the wings conveniently comes from elsewhere in the body, and that reduces our weight. It comes from bones, fat, and other tissues in the body that won't need it temporarily. This makes us considerably lighter, inch for inch, because the wings are very big but not heavy. Birds have hollow bones, you know."**

**"Okay, but… how can our bodies change shape? We have a fixed shape…"**

**Ta'lan shook her head. "Not so fixed as you may think… Your bodies are not so very different than ours, Liz. Your bodies are living things, not stones that cannot change. When you are born, you are a baby, but you grow… and change. The arteries and blood circulate antibodies and platelets and all kind of things to different parts of your body all the time. If you are wounded… you heal. You gain weight or lose it depending on how your body stores or uses fat. Your hair grows and has to be cut. Finger and toenails grow. In many ways, your bodies, just like ours, change from minute to minute and day to day. Is it so hard to believe that something more might be possible?"**

**Liz shook her head and stretched her arms out at her sides. Then… one by one… the others did the same. Ta'lan smiled…**

**"Close your eyes and feel the wind flow beneath your arms. Then imagine that you have wings above your arms, on your back, and feel the wind that is beneath your arms flow under the wings, too. Feel it under your arms first. That way you can transfer the sensation to the wings that you wish to create. Feel the lift."**

**Liz concentrated. So did the others. Suddenly, there was a soft thud, and everyone opened their eyes. Kyle was lying on the ground on his left side. On his right shoulder blade, a small wing had started to grow.**

**"Kyle, what happened," Maria exclaimed, as Jeliya ran to help him. "I think you were doing it!" **

**Kyle nodded, at a momentary loss for words. Then he found his voice again… "The wind flipped me over."**

**"You are only beginning to learn," Ta'lan said. "The wind beneath only one wing can do that if you are not expecting it." Ta'lan reached out her hand to Kyle and he took it, standing back up and brushing himself off.**

**"Try again," Ta'lan said.**

**Everyone stretched their arms out wide again. This time, they all felt an odd sensation… as though something was beginning to happen… or at least trying to happen… but it was a startled scream that broke their concentration again.**

**"ALEX!" **

**They all looked up to see Isabel, two perfect wings spread wide, rising slowly into the wind.**

**"Alex, get me down! I don't know how to get down!"**

**"Give me your hand," Alex yelled back, reaching up toward Isabel, who was hovering just above them.**

**"Move your wings forward and up a little," Ta'lan said. "Reduce the lift. Just don't reduce it all at once."**

**Isabel did, and slowly, she settled back to the ground. Immediately, Alex tackled her.**

**"I'm on the ground, Alex. I don't need it now," Isabel said.**

**"But I do," Alex replied. Isabel rolled her eyes and smiled then put her arms around Alex…**

**"You're starting to grow wings, too, Alex! Did you know it?"**

**"I knew I felt something."**

**"Omigosh! Look at Liz," Maria exclaimed. "She's… just like Isabel! She's doing it!"**

**"So are you," Liz said. "Have you looked at yourself, Ree? You look like a little Christmas tree cherub."**

**Maria reached back and felt two small wings on her back. They were about half as long as her arms.**

**"Omigod! How did I do that? Will they get any bigger?"**

**"If you concentrate, they'll get bigger," Ta'lan said. "Your wings should be about four times as long as your arms, but when you become proficient at flying, you will adjust them to the length that works best for you."**

**"This is so cool," Maria exclaimed. "I'm a shapeshifter!"**

**Ta'lan raised her eyebrows a bit and nodded. "I guess that is true. You are part of our family now… you all are."**

**"I think I can feel something on my back," Michael said to Maria. "Do you see anything?"**

**Maria checked Michael's back. He did have two very small wings beginning to appear.**

**"You're doing it!"**

**Michael grinned and looked over at Max.**

**"Hey, what's the hurry," Max said defensively. "I'd rather get it right."**

**"Yeah, sure you would, buddy," Michael replied. "We know!"**

**"Well, I would," Max said, feeling his shoulders for any possible trace of a wing.**

**"Don't worry," Liz said comfortingly, "You'll do it, Max."**

**"I'm not worried!" Max exclaimed. Then he lowered his voice just a bit. "I'm not worried. I'm just waiting to see what mistakes everybody else makes, so I don't make them. I'm doing it the smart way. That's all."**

**"I know," Liz said, nodding.**

**"I am!" Max insisted.**

**"We know," Maria said.**

**Max closed his eyes again and concentrated.**

**Meanwhile, Maria and Michael's wings had grown, but they both seemed to have stopped growing at about the length of their arms. Kyle, who was still struggling to get his other wing to come out, couldn't help noticing… and commenting…**

**"Hey, Michael, if you guys are gonna stop there, I can use a couple more little angel cherubs for my tree come Christmas."**

**"Very funny, Valenti! Yuk it up! I don't see you flyin' yet."**

**"We don't need longer wings, Kyle," Maria said. "We're hummingbirds."**

**"Yeah, that's right," Michael said. "We're hummingbirds. What are you going to be, Kyle? One hand flapping in the wind?" Michael smiled.**

**"If I wanted to be," Kyle replied feistily. "But I want big wings myself!"**

**"That's good, Kyle… but I don't think Isabel will give them to you. What would she fly with then?"**

**"C'mon guys," Jeliya said, "Stop joking and concentrate on what you're doing. It's your wings you're trying to grow, not your tongues."**

**Kyle looked at Jeliya and smiled sheepishly. He noticed that Jeliya had some pretty impressive wings already… and she looked great. Kyle had to admit to himself that he liked what he saw… not just in the wings, but in Jeliya. She was hot.**

**"Truce, Michael?"**

**"Truce."**

**Ta'lan had finished looking over Liz's wings and was inspecting Isabel's and Jeliya's when suddenly Maria gasped again.**

**Everyone looked where Maria was pointing just in time to see a form fall off the ledge. It was Liz. Max leapt forward to grab her and disappeared over the edge, too.**

**"MAX!" Michael yelled, panicking. "Max, you don't have wings! Aw crap…"**

**Michael leapt off the ledge behind Max.**

**"MICHAEL!" Maria gasped, realizing that Michael's wings were not yet long enough to be anywhere near effective enough to fly, the hummingbird joke notwithstanding.**

**In the meantime, unaware of what was happening behind her, Liz had spread her wings out to their full length and was gliding out over the valley. Half way across the valley, she turned back toward the cliff and saw not one, not two, but three other pairs of wings in the distance coming towards her. And behind those was yet another. She thought that two of them might be Isabel and Jeliya. They were the only ones, besides herself, whose wings were fully-formed and ready to fly. But she had no idea who the third person could be… or the forth. **

**As she drew nearer, she realized, with some shock, that the one in the lead was neither Isabel nor Jeliya, but Max. And not far behind Max was Michael, flapping furiously but managing to stay aloft, since his wings had grown out another several feet in length. Not far behind Michael was Maria, also flapping furiously but beginning to slow into a more normal pattern as her wings grew out enough to support her. But Max! Liz couldn't believe what she was seeing. He had had no wings at all… not even a hint… when she had jumped off the ledge. Liz didn't know it, but Max had had no wings when he had leapt either. He did now, though… and so did Michael and Maria, who were coming up fast behind him. Not far behind them was Rahn, who had come to help if needed. Fortunately, it appeared that he would not be needed.**

**Max glided up beside Liz and took her hand…**

**"I thought you fell off the ledge…"**

**"I thought you had no wings."**

**Max smiled. "Well, I couldn't let you just fly away."**

**At that moment, Michael caught up with them. His wings were almost full length now, and his flapping had slowed considerably, allowing him to rest his aching muscles a little and glide.**

**"Max, holy cheese, man! What were you thinking?"**

**"I had to save Liz."**

**"It looked to me like you were the one who needed saving!"**

**"What do you mean? I told you I could do it when I was ready!"**

**"Yeah? Did you believe it, though? 'Cause I sure didn't!"**

**Max shrugged and grinned. "Maybe… a little bit. Okay, I had my doubts, but hey, I'm here now. What about you? I didn't think you were ready yet."**

**"Somebody had to save you, Max."**

**As Michael spoke, Maria glided up beside him. He turned and looked, surprised to see her there…**

**"Maria! What are you doing?"**

**"What does it look like I'm doing? Saving you!"**

**"Me? I don't need saving. I'm saving Max."**

**Liz started laughing.**

**"What's so funny," Maria asked.**

**"So many lifesavers and no one to save! Have any of you even looked at the gorgeous view down below us?"**

**Maria looked down and swallowed. "Omigosh! What am I doing?"**

**"Flying, I think," Liz replied, still laughing.**

**"I don't like heights, Liz! I never did." Maria looked again at the valley and the river far below and swallowed. "It is beautiful, though." She looked at her wings and felt the wind beneath them supporting her as she glided along almost effortlessly now. "I think… maybe… I could get used to this…"**

**Liz laughed again. **

**In the distance, two more sets of wings leapt from the ledge, then another, each one settling into a gentle glide like so many beautiful gliders in the morning sun. Michael smiled at Maria, and Maria reached out to take Michael's hand, her left wing just behind his right wing, as they sailed together across the valley, turned, and then sailed back again toward the ledge they had leapt from. Releasing Michael's hand, Maria flapped her wings several times, lifting herself above the ledge, then she settled lightly onto the ground on her feet. Because of her lighter weight, it had seemed almost too easy.**

**Right behind Maria, Michael settled onto the ledge, too, then turned around and looked again at the glistening wings gliding in the sunlight over the valley…**

**"Nice! I think I'm really going to like this!"**

**"I thought you would," Ta'lan said with a smile. "There's nothing as freeing or as joyous as flying."**

**"Not much anyway," Michael agreed, taking Maria into his arms and wrapping her in his wings.**

**tbc**


	72. Rath71

The Four Faces Of Rath

**Four Faces, One Heart**

**Chapter 71**

**LXXI**

**Maria clung to Michael's arm and smiled as they left the C'prysta, unquestionably the dressiest --and the most expensive-- place for a night out on Antar. The C'prysta had the best food of the galaxy's best food. It was ten stars out of five and as gourmet as it was possible to get. But it was also a place to dance the night away and listen to great music performed live by Antar's most popular bands and singers. Michael and Maria had been to the C'prysta a few times, but not very recently. The fact is… family restaurants like Var'nat's Kires-Ryym and the CrashDown had become their eat-out locales du jour. Nowadays, "get-out-and-get-away" usually meant taking the kids out for a family outing; and there was no denying that Michael and Maria loved and cherished every family moment together. But tonight was a different kind of night. Tonight had been a real "GET-OUT-AND-GET-AWAY" night to cap off a really, really "GET-OUT-AND-GET-AWAY" day. **

**Maria breathed the night air in deeply, with great satisfaction, and leaned her head on Michael's arm, lifting her eyes to look into his… "It's been a long time since we got all dressed up like this, Michael… I'm glad we did this. It was a wonderful evening."**

**Michael looked at Maria and smiled. Her eyes seemed to dance under the Antarian moonlight, and her face had a radiant glow. **

**"A great day deserves a great evening, Maria. I thought you'd like it."**

**"I loved it!" Maria reached up to give Michael a kiss. Then she looked into his eyes and smiled… "I love YOU."**

**"I love you, too," Michael said, with immense sincerity. He remembered a time when those words had been very hard for him to say. Michael knew better than anyone how far he had come since coming to Antar… and how much farther still he had come since he and Max had brought Maria and Liz to Antar. The two years they had spent on Antar without Maria and Liz had had a profound effect on both of them. Michael never wanted to be without Maria again, and in some strange way, he felt that those three words were the key to making that wish come true.**

**"How were your Golden Sea pink-ringed shrimp?"**

**"The jarlagos-droozeen were great," Maria sighed, "So was the Grelligo soup… and the Corvian brandy."**

**"Oh, yeah, well, that… Corvian brandy's like liquid gold. It should be good!" Michael looked at Maria and grinned. "But it WAS good, wasn't it!"**

**"Worth every kyrin."**

**Michael nodded. "You know, I don't think I ever saw anyone fix grelliats like that. I really liked them."**

**"I noticed…" Maria patted Michael on the stomach. "I'll see if I can duplicate their recipe."**

**"Really?"**

**Maria shrugged. "Yeah, why not! If they can do it, I can do it."**

**Michael and Maria reached the end of the C'prysta's arbored walkway and crossed over a small boardwalk bridge that led to the edge of the Golden Sea. There, they removed their shoes and continued walking along the beach under the full moons.**

**"Daneela Varel sang great, didn't she, Michael?"**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah. I still think she sounds like Dido."**

**Maria laughed then thought about it. "Yeah, I guess she does… kind of."**

**"Max and I were talking about that once… a long time ago… when we went to save you and Liz after the earth was destroyed in the other timeline… about how she sounded like Dido. Daneela's older now, but she still sounds great."**

**"Yeah… she does," Maria agreed, "I love the mellow, romantic edge she gives to her songs."**

**Michael nodded. "And Var Juma… don't you think Var Juma sounded like Ivy? Remember 'Edge Of The Ocean?'"**

**Maria looked at the Golden Sea and looked back at Michael, smiling. "Any reason you'd think of that song right now, Michael? Edge Of The Ocean?"**

**Michael shrugged, playfully kicking a gentle wave that rushed up over his feet… "Coincidence."**

**Maria smiled. "Yeah, I see the resemblance in the voices… and the styles. I loved the music, Michael… but you know what made tonight really special?"**

**"What?"**

**"You."**

**Michael stopped and looked at Maria then wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. After several minutes, they resumed walking again, each with an arm around the other.**

**"You made it special for me, too, Maria. I even liked dancing with you."**

**Maria giggled. "I know you don't usually like to dance, Michael, but you did seem to be having a good time."**

**"I was."**

**"You sure it wasn't the Corvian brandy?"**

**Michael laughed. "No… it was you… it was you. The brandy was good, but only you can make me dance."**

**Maria giggled again then smiled. She knew that there was great truth in that simple statement.**

**As if to punctuate what he had said, Michael took Maria's hands and began to dance with her on the beach, in the moonlight, as the gentle waves of the Golden Sea swished in and out over their bare feet. The rivulets of water flowing back out under their feet moved the sand beneath them, tickling Maria's toes. She laughed… then she let herself go with the moment, enjoying the chance to truly lose herself with Michael… It was all so freeing! Together they spun and leapt, they swayed and dipped, they laughed… and completely let go… but mostly, they held each other tight, swayed to the music in their heads, and kissed as though there were no tomorrow… **

**And somewhere in the night, someone else watched…**

**"What do you think?"**

**"He looks like he's enjoying himself."**

**"I told you he'd be fine."**

**"Well, I like to see things for myself, old man. No offense, but it's how I've survived. And I want to make sure that he does, too. He's kind of… you know… me… in a way."**

**The old man smiled and nodded. "So… does this arrangement suit you, Rath?"**

**Rath sighed and nodded… "I'm grateful to you, Drax… and to the Noogies, too, for setting up a special timeline for Zan and Ava and me to live on in… I just don't want to mess things up for him… for Michael… in his timeline. I mean, him being me and all."**

**The Drax-ta-kiya looked at Durj'ori beside him and smiled, which was as close as he ever came to laughing.**

**"It's Nogi's… Nogi-K'ya," Durj'ori said. "And you're welcome. Michael altered your timeline when he was there. Granted, it was our fault, actually, but that's not important now… Anyway, we had the option of putting it back like it was and leaving it that way or splitting off the altered line into a separate timeline. In view of the… fate that awaited you all in your original timeline, we thought you would not object to this arrangement." **

**Rath shook his head and looked at Zan, and Zan shook his head in agreement… "Ava and I are happy… as long as it does not affect them in their time."**

**Durj'ori smiled proudly. "You don't know how many Nogi-K'ya worked on this without any rest for the last year to make sure that that would be the case… and to get it done while you are still alive. Your kind has such a desperately short lifespan."**

**"It was shorter in the timeline Kivar was in," Zan said.**

**"So now nobody gets knocked off by Kivar… 'cause Kivar won't be in our timeline?" Rath asked.**

**"It's not as simple as that," Durj'ori said. "What happened in the other timeline will still happen… but you were split off from that timeline right before it happens. In that timeline, you still die, but here you live on. And Michael and Max are still created from your DNA and Zan's… from that timeline."**

**"Don't ask him to explain it further," the Drax-ta-kiya said, "Neither you nor I will live long enough to hear the entire explanation."**

**"Sadly, that is true," Durj'ori agreed.**

**"This guy, Michael… Tell me about him," Rath said, "I mean… I know he's me… or he's made from me… but he's different, too… and yet, he's not. I like him… He can be a serious warrior and protect his kingdom… like me… when he needs to be. But he has an artist's soul…"**

**"Also like you, I have heard," the Drax-ta-kiya said.**

**Rath shrugged slightly. "Not many know that. Only my closest friends… of which there are very few."**

**"It's not a crime, Rath."**

**"It would make me look weak if it were widely known."**

**"Like Michael?"**

**"No. I didn't say that Michael was… I see what you mean. But Michael… it's all in the package. It's who he is."**

**"Is that bad?"**

**Rath shook his head. "Michael is what he is… a warrior and an artist… a true and faithful friend… and… and something more. I can't quite put my finger on it. When you look at me, you see a man of one face, at least outwardly. I am loyal and faithful and a warrior, too, but they are all seen through this one face… the face of the warrior. Michael is much more complex. He has three… maybe four… yes, four faces. And he has learned to separate and cultivate each of these… aspects… of his life… as something to be cherished. There is the warrior-protector, the creator or artist, the faithful and true friend, and something else… very important. I think… it is something about him and his lady, Maria… Even when he's not with her… he still is. There is this… something… defining… between them."**

**"Candy?"**

**Rath looked at the Drax-ta-kiya, and the old man smiled and held out his hand with something in it.**

**"What is that?"**

**"Something I obtained on the planet Michael grew up on. It's called candy."**

**Rath took one of the little pellets and looked at it. Then he tasted it. "It tastes like Xa'fa."**

**"They call it chocolate," the Drax-ta-kiya said. "I think it is the same thing."**

**"What does the little symbol on it mean?"**

**The Drax-ta-kiya shook his head. "It is a W… or an M… depending on the way you hold it."**

**"There's only one problem with it," Rath said, savoring and then swallowing the pellet. "It makes you want more."**

**"It does, doesn't it," the Drax-ta-kiya agreed, putting another one into his own mouth then handing Rath several more. "It does indeed."**

**-------Epilogue-------**

**As the sun's first rays crept over the Golden Sea, Michael rolled over and looked at Maria lying beside him in the sand. The gentle waves moved in and out around them, and Maria smiled and put her arms around Michael and kissed him passionately. **

**"My mother warned me about guys like you, Michael Guerin."**

**"I guess it's a good thing she's not here then, huh?"**

**Maria giggled. "Yeah. Or she might see me do this…" Maria kissed Michael on the lips gently… "or this…" She unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hand over his chest.**

**"The sun's coming up," Michael said, looking around worriedly. "People will be showing up at the beach soon."**

**Maria put a pout on her lips, but even Michael could tell that it was feigned. Her eyes still danced with the memories of the past twenty-four hours. **

**Michael smiled and rolled over on top of Maria, wrapping her in his arms, then rolled over again with her on top of him.**

**"Now this is closer to what I had in mind," Maria said, lifting her head and gazing into Michael's eyes adoringly, as another wave swept up the beach underneath them, playing with Michael's hair. Both Michael and Maria were thoroughly soaked, but neither of them seemed to care.**

**"Do you think Max and Liz went straight home after the C'prysta," Maria asked.**

**Michael laughed. "I haven't thought about it. I don't know. They were still dancing when we left. They probably danced all night then went home."**

**Maria nodded. "Mmm… yeah… probably. You're a lot more fun."**

**Michael laughed again. "Liz and Max might disagree with you there, Ree. But for the record, you could be right."**

**"Of course I'm right. I picked you to live my life with, didn't I?"**

**"Yeah… you got me… for better or for worse. You know, Maria, I was wondering… about this shapeshifting thing, you know… do you think we ought to mention it to the kids?"**

**"GOOD LORD, NO!" Maria exclaimed, then she began to laugh. "Zorel and Jayyd would badger us to death to change them so they could do it, too! That's all I need is for Zorel and Jayyd to fly away whenever they want to! I mean… we've already got Kryys with his… 'special gift' popping in and out without warning. Maybe we could tell Zorel and Jayyd when they're, oh, I don't know, married and about thirty? Until then, let's just keep this as our own little secret, okay? I've got a feeling Kryys knows already, but he'll keep our secret… if we ask him to."**

**Michael nodded. "That's pretty much what I was thinking.**

**Michael stood up and brushed the sand off of his back and legs. Then he picked Maria up in his arms. She put both of her arms around Michael's neck and gazed into his eyes dreamily. "Did I ever tell you I love you, Spaceboy?"**

**Michael smiled and nodded. "Let's go home, Maria. The kids will be over at your mom's till noon. I think there's a hot bath at home with our names on it just calling to us."**

**Maria grinned… and then nodded. "I hear it!"**

**"Oh, and Ree… in case you haven't heard me say it recently, I love you, too."**

**Michael carried Maria back to the little boardwalk bridge, where they found their shoes, right where they had left them. Then they walked across the bridge… and back to the everyday lives they knew and loved… together.**

**As the Antarian sun rose over the Golden Sea, it glinted off of a Fan-Ji IV hovercar quietly leaving the parking lot of the C'prysta… heading for the countryside. **

**---The End---**


End file.
